First Contact
by WriterofFantasies
Summary: A man, John Calligan, volunteered to be the first man to leave the Sol Sytem on a prototype Hyperspace starship. When an engine failure puts him massively off course, what does he discover and how does it affect the Human Race?
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone, and welcome to chapter one of _First Contact_ , my very own Aliens/Predator fanfiction. Now, I'm also writing _Broken Heart, Healing Soul_ , so I'll be using a altering update pattern. I'll update one, then the other, then the first again.**

 **I had this idea from a very simple dream, then expanded the dream into a world, then a story. This story, unlike my other one, will let me get rather creative with the plotline and world itself.** **It also will have a different chapter length. _Broken Heart, Healing Soul_ has chapters 3-5K. This story's chapters will end whenever I accomplished what I wanted to happen in the chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, shape, or form own the Aliens franchise.**

XXX

 _Chapter 1: Engine Failure and Arrival_

XXX

John woke to the sound of an alarm on his phone. It made an aggravating, loud, droning noise. That's exactly why he used it.

He reached over to his bedside table and deactivated his alarm, before sitting up. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked around the hotel room.

It was very basic, with beige walls, a single bed, and a T.V. with 50 channels. A door led to a simple bathroom with a bath and shower combination, and a simple toilet and cabinet.

He looked at the time and saw that it read 8:30.

 _Well shit, I must have slept through the first alarm! I gotta be at the meeting inan hour!_

John jumped out of and flew through his morning rituals, before donning dress pants and a white shirt. He then threw on polished black shoes and a black jacket.

He grabbed his keys, signed out of the hotel, and hopped into his car, a black Viogo powered by a Ununoctium* Reactor.

 _Why do I even need to be meeting? I don't want to sit for several hours, answering questions the reporters ask._

John drove down the streets of Washington, D.C. He passed the White House, The Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, The Trump Wall, and several other symbols of American history.

But he wasn't here for any of that. He was here for the ISEA Headquaters,

The ISEA, or International Space Exploration Association, is a company which surfaced into the world of space exploration in the late 24th Century, specifically 2341 by Kyle Nixes.

It was funded by the UN in order to research the ability to move past the solar system, which humanity has struggled to do for a century and a half.

Their solution? A highly experimental Hyperspace Reactor. It was the first of it's kind, and, because of its nature, it was completely unknown whether it would work.

Naturally, they threw it on a ship and asked for volunteer pilots. Understandably, they only had one volunteer. John Calligan.

John arrived at the ISEA HQ and sighed with relief when he saw that he was ten minutes early. He quickly stopped the car and gave the keys to a waiting man.

He ran inside and was promptly directed to the meeting room. He fixed his pitch black hair and smoothed the wrinkles from his suit before entering the room and a boring meeting.

Inside the room were three tables. The left hand table seated reporters from various news websites whose purpose was to ask questions to help the general population understand the scientific mumbo-jumbo.

The right hand table held many dignitaries and officials. The farthest seat was empty.

At the center table sat five people, all of which were extremely distinguished and made John aware that this was an extremely important project.

On the left, the first man he recognized, was Kyle Nixes, founder of ISEA. He was a multi-trillionaire and the man who designed Project Exodus.

Next to him was was Ivan Karagee, head of the Hyperspace Reactor Development Team. He had several degrees in various fields of science, the most relevant being Quantum Mechanics.

At the center of the table sat the current U.S. President, Jeffery Apollo, an odd man with an odd name. He was second term, with years of politics. He often made jumps in reasoning that most couldn't comprehend. John understood him though.

Next to him was Morgan Vidrine, head of the ISEA's Department of Astronomical Mapping, whose job is to map the Milky Way and to plot a course for all satellites and ships launched.

Finally was Carl Rodriguez, head of ISEA's Engineer Department and responsible for the building of the Unto the Horizon. He designed his first life-size, self-aware android at age 14.

John took his seat on the right hand table, sitting on the end farthest from the door, signifying him as the highest ranking official at the table.

As he sat down, Kyle spoke up and began the meeting. "As we all know by now, this will be the last meeting before John is sent to the Pluto Research Station, where the _Unto the Horizon_ was built*. Due to this, the reporters are advised to ask any questions while they can, as this will be their last chance."

One of the reporters sitting across from John spoke then. "For the sake of those watching this at home, why was the ship built so far out, and near to a space station?"

Carl answered the reporters question with a slight Spanish accent. "It was built so far out because the ship is immense. If it had been built near Earth, the gravity would have altered our orbit and damaged our satellites. That's also why it was built on a station, not a planet. It is simply too large."

"Why is the ship so large? What was it equipped with?" Another reporter asked.

Ivan answered this one. "The Hyperspace Reactor is a prototype. Due to it's nature, the only way to test it is to use it. Because of the lack of testing, we have no idea where John will end up, a fact he is aware of."

"This has caused us to outfit the ship with a massive amount of supplies for various situations. Life support systems, farms, entire rooms devoted to turning Carbon Dioxide into breathable Oxygen, tons of various metals, massive amounts of building supplies, even entire factories."

"Obviously, the Reactor is onboard, and it alone is two hundred meters across. (One meter is roughly one yard.) Then we have the Dark Communications Relay, which uses Dark Energy to slingshot the radio waves back here."

The first reporter asked another question. "This question is for you, John. So you have no idea where you'll end up, if you'll survive, or what you'll find? Why did you volunteer then?"

John spoke for the first time that day. He held a deep voice that was rather charming and could calm anyone. "We have a course planned. I should come out near VI-03, but it's not guaranteed. The ship might have a catastrophic meltdown, so I really don't know if I'll live. I volunteered because if I do die, I have no one to miss me and because I've always been an explorer at heart."

"Thank you for answering."

A third reporter then asked a question directed towards Ivan. "How does the Hyperspace Reactor work? The engines? Laymen's terms please."

Ivan smiled and spoke. "The real way is very complicated. Even I have a little trouble fully comprehending it. The simplest way is that is uses a mixture of Dark Energy and Gravitons to compress space and allow the ship to move at several times the speed of light."

"The ship's engines uses a new system of creating Antimatter inside the engine, condensing them, and ejecting them out the engine, providing an enormous amount of thrust. Afterwards, the Antimatter impact an atom, destroying the Antimatter, leaving nothing behind."

The panel and John continued to answer questions for another couple hours, before the reporters seemed to have run out of question.

Jeffery then spoke up. "Anyone else have questions? No? Then this meeting is adjourned."

At this, the reporters and the officials quickly filed out the doorway, leaving the panel and John alone. Kyle, Ivan, Jeffery, and Carl left as well to make the final preparations for John's departure.

Morgan walked over to John and smiled reassuringly. "It'll be fine, John. You'll enter stasis for two weeks as the ship's autopilot kicks in, you'll come out where expected, snap a few pictures, and come back."

John sighed before smiling at Morgan, "Thanks. I think I needed that. Three hundred thousand light years. That's so far away if something goes wrong. The engine, the Communications Relay, the Reactor, the whole damn ship is experimental!"

"Don't you want this? To be the first person to leave the Sol System? Isn't that why you volunteered, and went through four years of training and classes for this mission?"

"Yeah, that's exactly why. Doesn't lessen the nervousness though." John said.

"Thanks for the talk, Morgan. I needed this."

"I am happy to help. I need to go finish plotting the course, alright? Go get ready for the ship to take you to the Pluto Research Station."

XXX

"Quiet a sight, isn't it?" Said Jason Gilligan, the pilot of the Star Traveller, the ship that John was on.

Out the window a diminutive planet could be seen. Technically a dwarf planet, it was several times smaller than Earth. Pluto. Its moon was nearly the same size as the planet itself.

Not far from it, a massive space station was suspended, with the colors white, grey, and black dominant throughout it. Massive solar panels could be seen.

In the distance, an utterly massive starship could be seen. It looked at least six miles long and a mile wide. On the rear, four engines could be seen. They were powered down.

The hull was a bland grey. After all, it would take millions of gallons of paint to color the entire ship. It had a pointed tip, which struck John as odd. Why would aerodynamics matter in space? The words "Unto the Horizon" could be seen painted in a bright blue.

"Yeah. I haven't been this far from Earth before. I've been to Mars and Jupiter before, to train how to move in different gravity levels. That ship is a lot bigger seeing it than just being told how big it is." John replied.

"Gotta say, John. I don't envy you. That massive ship and being the only one on it? That'd give me the creeps." Jason said with a shudder.

"I know, but I'm also eager to be the first man outside the Sol System. Plus, at least they have an android on board."

The ship docked on the Research Station, and John disembarked. He then was escorted by a researcher into a room where a conference call was waiting for him. On it were the same five people that wereat the meeting two months ago.

"Remember John," spoke Ivan, "the ship will power the Reactor up automatically, and will cut off after precisely two weeks. All you need to do is enter stasis. Simple as that."

Nixes then took over. "Madison, the onboard Android, will deactivate your stasis one day before the ship exits Hyperspace. After that, you'll contact us for further instruction."

"I understand, and I'm ready." John simply said.

Jeffery then said, "Good. We expect to hear from you in two weeks. Don't let us down."

The conference call was then ended and John was escorted to a simple starship that he would pilot into Unto the Horizon's hangar, before activating the autopilot and going in to stasis.

Once there, he exited the ship to see Madison waiting for him.

"Hello, John. I'm Madison, the Android whose task is to held ease the burden of running this ship. If you'll follow me, I'll take you to the Control Room where you can run a Systems Diagnostic and prepare yourself stasis."

John nodded and began following Madison. After several minutes, they arrived at the Control Room. It was situated at the front of the ship, understandably, and had a multitude of windows, where Impact Shields could be seen at the top, ready to slide down and cover the windows. Cameras showed various areas of the ship and screens displayed the situation of various important sections of the ship.

John sat in the chair in front of the Main Computer and spoke.

"Computer, begin Systems Diagnostic."

 _"Beginning Systems Diagnostic."_

 _"Dark Communications Relay- Online, Active."_

 _"Hyperspace Reactor- Online, Deactive."_

 _"_ _Antimatter Engines- All Online, Deactive."_

 _"Ununoctium Energy Reactor- Online, Active, Sufficient energy output at 25%."_

 _"Oxygen Levels- Nominal."_

 _"Artificial Gravity- Online, Active."_

 _"Autopilot- Online, Deactive."_

 _"Stasis Chambers- All Online, All Deactive."_

 _"Impact Shields- Online, Raised."_

 _"All systems online."_

John smiled to himself and grabbed the PSC, or Portable Systems Controller.

Madison then escorted him to the stasis chambers, set the chamberhe would use to open after two weeks, smiled at John, and left the room.

He activated the Antimatter Engines, Hyperspace Reactor, lowered the Impact Shields, and deactivated the Artifical Gravity. He knew the gravity shut off when he felt himself begin to float slightly. He also heard a dull whine from the Engines and Reactor activating.

John set the PSC down and entered the chamber. He saw the top slide shut over him, encasing him in darkness. He smelled the chemicals in the air that put him to sleep.

 _I'm gonna be groggy as all hell when I wake up._

XXX

John awoke to see and feel Madison shaking his arm. He sat up, grabbing the side, and felt, like he correctly believed, very groggy. He saw Madison's smiling face and knew that everything was alright.

He still had to ask though. "Did anything odd or important happen, and are we on track?"

"It's a few hours before we come out of Hyperspace. Even after the stasis ended, you slept for a while." She said with a smirk.

"Anything else?" John asked.

"Nine days ago I felt an odd tremor through the ship, but no alarms went off so I figured it was the autopilot dodging an asteroid." Madison asked.

"Thank you, Madison. I'll head to the Control Room and perform another Systems Diagnostic." John said before releasing himself from the chamber and floating into the air.

"Make sure you activate the A.G. before you do." Madison spoke, then departed.

John reached over and grabbed the PSC and arranged himself perpendicular to the floor, before activating the Artifical Gravity and landing on his feet.

He walked down the halls with an odd feeling that the tremor Madison felt was significant.

He arrived in the Control Room and saw that the Impact Shields covered the windows, and sat down in front of the Main Computer and ran another diagnostic. _"Beginning Systems Diagnostic."_

 _"Dark Communications Relay- Online. Active."_

 _"Hyperspace Reactor- Online. Active. Set to deactivate in three hours and twelve minutes."_

 _"Antimatter Engines- Three Online. Three Active. Top left Engine malfunctioning."_

 _"Ununoctium Energy Reactor- Online, Active, Sufficient energy output at 25%."_

 _"Oxygen Levels- Nominal."_

 _"Artificial Gravity- Online, Active."_

 _"Autopilot- Online, Active. Damaged Engine has caused the ship to be severely off-course. Autopilot can not fix course trajectory."_

 _"Stasis Chambers- All Online, All Deactive."_

 _"Impact Shields- Online, Lowered."_

 _"One Engine failure. All other systems nominal."_

John sat back and weighed the good and bad.

On the bad side, one engine was malfunctioning so it would be nearly impossible to choose where to arrive. Due to that they were hundreds of light years off-course.

On the good side, the ship was completely self-sustaining so he was in no danger of starvation, dehydration, or asphyxiation. The Autopilot feature was still running, so they wouldn't crash into a planet or asteroid at several times the speed of light.

 _I won't be able to fix the engine until I exit Hyperspace. Then I'll need to perform a space walk and discover the extent of the damage._

 _If I'm lucky? Its a damaged wire and I can replace it. If something needs to be welded, I'll have to enter a planet atmosphere that has the necessary gasses, otherwise the weld won't form right._

John busied himself by checking the various screens while he waited for the Hyperspace Reactor to deactivate.

XXX

Three hours later, the speakers kicked on and a voice emitted from them. " _Exiting Hyperspace in 3...2...1...0."_

When the countdown hit zero, a massive shudder shook the ship and nearly knocked John out the chair. After a few seconds the vibrations stopped and John relaxed his grip on the chair.

The voice kicked on the speakers again. " _Hyperspace deactivation successful. Performing Location Diagnostic."_

 _"Sector- Unknown."_

 _"Region- Unknown."_

 _"Solar System- Unknown."_

Already figured that out. John thought dryly.

Just then the door opened and Madison walked in. "What's the situation, John?"

"Not good. That tremor you felt was one of the engines malfunctioning. I'm going to have to perform a space walk to see the damage. After that, I'll contact HQ and ask for what to do." John said.

"Really? An engine malfunctioned? I should have noticed that." Madison said.

"Don't blame yourself. No one could have realized an engine broke by a little shake." John said reassuringly.

John then exited the chair and walked to an Airdock. Once inside he opened a case and placed on a spacewalk suit. The suit was reiminicient of the 21st Century Astronaut Suits. However, they were more modern with temperature, air, humidity, and radiation monitors.

He de-pressurized the room. He attached a cable to a handle beside the exit and slowly made his way down the outside of the ship. As he did, he looked around.

There was a massive amount of stars, more than you could see if you were in an atmosphere. They were all colors; red, blue, white, and a few others that weren't stars. A galaxy could be seen, and, judging by the brightness, it was over a million light years away.

Several comets could be seen flying across the sky. Asteroids could be seen in the darkness; hulking shapes barely able to be made out in the blackness of space.

No planets or close stars were anywhere in sight.

 _I really hope the engine doesn't require a weld to fix._

As he rounded the corner, he groaned as he saw that there was a decent-sized hole in the side of the engine, where an asteroid had hit it. The hole was oblong, and around a meter across.

He turned around and went back into the ship. He entered the Airdock and pressurised the room. He left while keeping the suit on.

Once he returned to the Control Room, he was questioned by Madison. "Can you repair it now and why are you still in the suit."

"It needs to be welded, so I need to bring the ship into an atmosphere than can support an Arc Welder. The right gases need to be in the air, or the weld won't hold. And I'm still wearing the suit because it's actually rather comfortable."

He then sat down in the chair and spoke up. "Establish a Dark Comms Link to Earth."

 _"Establishing Dark Comms Link with HQ."_

 _"..."_

 _"Link Established."_

As it said this, the screen lit up showing a conference room with the same five members, again, plus several reporters.

Nixes spoke up after silence for several seconds. "How are things on your end, John? I noticed that you are in a spacewalk suit."

"Not good, Sir. One of the Antimatter Engines was damaged by an asteroid nine days ago. I'm in a completely uncharted area. I already checked the damage, and I'll need to weld it."

"I'm going to try to find a planet able to support a Arc Welder in the atmosphere before repairing the engine. Any objections?"

He waited a few seconds while the signal to be transmitted back to Earth, them to receive the reply.

"No. Do what you need to do, John." Nixes spoke. _"Link Terminated."_ The computer said, signifying the others ended the link.

"Begin Planetary Search for planets with oxygen and hydrogen in the atmosphere." John told the computer.

 _"Beginning Planetary Search."_

 _"Searching..."_

 _"Searching..."_

 _"Seven possibilities found. One probable match."_

John sighed, then spoke again. "Plot Autopilot course for probable match." _"Course plotted. Ready to depart."_

John sat back on the chair and thought.

I'll have to use two engines to keep going straight. I can't use Hyperspace without all four Engines because at that speed, I would go light years off-course.

"Deactive bottom right Antimatter Engine."

 _"Engine Deactivated."_

"Engage Autopilot to probable match for last Planetary Search.

" _"Autopilot Engaged."_ Came the computer's reply.

John felt the ship shudder as the engines kicked on and the ship began to move.

XXX

Several hours later, the ship shudder as the Engines shut off and the ship drifted to a stop. _"Arrived at Destination."_

"Scan the Atmosphere for all elements, major and minor." John spoke. He couldn't see the planet due to the lowered Impact Shields.

 _"Scanning..._ _"_

 _"Major Elements- Oxygen, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, and Carbon."_

 _"Minor Elements- Fluorine, Neon, Helium, Argon, Kyrpton, Xenon, and Radon."_

 _"Several Unidentifiable Trace Elements."_

 _"Presence of Life found."_

John nearly fell out of his chair at that and shouted. "What!"

 _"Presence of Life found."_

"Raise Impact Shields."

 _"Raising Impact Shields."_

As the Shields raised, John could only stare in awe at the sight before him.

A massive planet made of gas, a Mega Jupiter, orbited a red giant star. Surrounding the planet were five moons.

They could barely be called that.

Each 'moon' was a Super Earth, several times the size of Earth. One had an atmosphere too thick to see through, two were barren, and one was covered in magma.

But the fifth...

The fifth moon had a massive continent, several times larger than Pangea, in the Northern Hemisphere. Bright silver lakes could be seen among the green continent.

Green... _Life_.

The very north showed a ring of ice circling the entire planet. It seemed that nearly the entire Southern Hemisphere was a silver ocean with countless islands dotting it. A nearly identical ring of ice covered the bottom.

XXX

After staring in awe for several minutes, John activated the intercom. "Madison, come to the Control Room."

"Establish Comms Link to Earth."

" _Establishing Dark Comms Link to HQ."_

 _"..."_

 _"Link Established._ "

When the screen lit up, it showed Nixes and Carl in the room, speaking quietly.

"Sir, we have a situation. Get the others there, now." John spoke.

After several seconds, Nixes nodded and they left to get the other three.

John waited several minutes before they returned, and looked at him expantantly.

"I found a viable planet to perform the repairs, but..." John trailed off.

"But what?" Morgan asked, worried for her friend.

"Computer, connect Comms Link footage to forward external camera footage."

" _Connection successful._ "

John didn't need the computer to confirm the operation, because he knew it worked when he saw the awestruck and disbelieving face on the panel members.

"You see? It has life. Life! We can't pass up the chance to perform some research on this planet." John said, excited.

Carl was the first to recover. "You could load a All-Terrain Rover on board once of the ships in the hangar and head down. The Settlet suit is more than capable of supporting you down there, regardless of conditions."

"What do you say, Sirs? Should I?" John asked, referring to Nixes and Apollo.

Jeffery Apollo nodded, and Kyle Nixes spoke up. "Yes. Go down there and explore that planet. Take Madison with you."

Nixes leaned forward and continued. "Your mission is no longer to test the Hyperspace Reactor. It is to explore and research that planet for the foreseeable future, and, if necessary, establish First Contact with whatever beings may be on it."

XXX

 **And that is the end of chapter one. Rather lengthy, but you can expect that for the chapters in this story. I also don't have a cover art for this story, but if anyone is willing to design one, I'd be grateful and you'd get all credit.** **Now, these bottom notes will be rather long some chapters because I will do two things down here.**

 **1\. I will repeat questions an answer them here..**

 **2\. I will be placing footnotes down here as well.**

 **Footnotes**

 **Ununoctium Reactors- In the 22nd Century, the world converted to Ununoctium power. Ununoctium is 118 on the Periodic Table and can not be found naturally. It is a clean power source that produces energy from the element's decay.**

 **Unto the Horizon- A massive prototype starship that was so large, it was built near Pluto, in orbit. The size made it generate a miniscule gravity field, but enough to damage all satellites orbiting Earth and the Moon.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Welcome to Chapter 2 of _First Contact._ Gotta say, I'm enjoying the chance to let my imagination run wild with futuristic technology, as well as new species.**

 **Also, for several of the new species introduced in this story, I would like suggestions for the names of them. The major species I'm naming, but I'd like to give you some choice. The end note will name the species that I'm accepting names for.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Aliens/Predator**

.

XXX

John then ended the Communications Link and stood up. He looked out the windows and studied the moon in front of him. As he did, he noticed something that he hadn't seen before.

 _The planet's moon has it's own moon. Interesting. I'm honestly surprised that that is possible._

John activated a holographic map of the Superearth with life. He studied it for a while.

 _Those mountains would be hell to land in and set up a small research compound. The islands are likely far too small. Maybe a couple are big enough._

 _The ice lands up north don't seem too hospitable so I'd rather not live there for an unknown amount of time. I suppose my best bet is to land somewhere in the forests._

Having decided his course of action he used the intercom to call Madison to the Control Room.

 _Why did they even build an intercom if I was the only one on this ship? Did they expect hundreds of volunteers._

 _Back to my earlier train of thought, the forests would be my best option. I'll need a relatively large clearing for the ship and equipment. It'll take a couple trips to get all the research equipment down._

As he was lost in thought, he didn't notice the door open and a certain Android walk in. Madison stood beside John for a moment and noticed he was lost in thought.

She reached out and quickly gripped his shoulder, startling him. He whirled around and saw her with a small smile on her face.

"You might want to pay attention. With how distracted you were, a predator could have eaten you and you wouldn't notice."

"Yeah, I was lost in thought." John explained.

"About what? And what did you call me up here for?" Madison was understandably confused.

"First, the planet in front of us. I've been tasked with researching the moon, you'll know which one, and possibly establishing humanity's first First Contact situation." John explained, gesturing to the window.

Madison looked out the glass and seemed to notice the planet for the first time, and it rendered her speechless.

"Surprising, isn't It?" John asked. "I contacted HQ and showed them. That's when I got my task. I'm going to going down there in the Orbiter. I'll be bringing supplies and machinery for research."

Madison snapped out of her trance when John started talking, and smiled when he finished. "So you need me to stay up here and continue running the ship. Okay. That's no problem."

John nodded, the stood up. "I'll be going now. I'll go down there and set up a TerraDome. Afterward, I'll come and get more materials. I hope to have a farm and supply of energy in a month or two."

"Will you really be here for that long?" Madison said.

"Probably. This is a new planet and until I map the stars, if I leave now we'll never find this place again." John said, then smiled.

"Besides, being the first human to meet new life on a new planet will be very fun. I've always been a scientist at heart." As John spoke, he had a faraway look in his eyes.

"I've had some amazing experiences in the field before. On an entire new world? I'll definitely enjoy it."

John paused, then continued. "Alright. I'm going to go and get ready. I'll be using one of the Settler Suits. I'll have to load it on a cart and bring that with me."

"Okay. Be careful down there. Take a Rail Rifle and Stun Pistol." Madison said in concern for his safety.

John nodded once before leaving the Control Room and heading to the armory. Inside it were several racks of various weaponry, including a Anti Material Rifle.

 _Heavy weaponry, huh? Did they expect a war?_ _Still, I'm glad they put all these here. I have no idea what to expect down there. Hell, there might be a creature that can kill me with it's mind._

Eventually he settled with a ERG, the AMR, and a basic stun pistol.

The ERG, or Electromagnetic Rail Gun, is exactly as it sounds, a semiautomatic rifle that uses electromagnets to launch a tungsten round.

AMR, or Anti Material Rifle, uses a controlled explosion, similar to gunpowder bullets of the 21st Century, to fire a massive bullet of varuous types at ridiculous speeds. Some people have taken to calling them ARMs, even though the acronym is AMR

The Stun Pistol is pretty much a 21st Century tazer, but fires a bolt of pure electricity instead of cables. It can be lethal, but is almost always set to stun.

All in all, he was prepared for basically any situation. He sets all three onto a table and walks into a side room. Inside are various models of suits, ten of each kind.

The one he was interested in was the Settler Suit. It was a suit designed in the mid 22nd Century, and was updated throughout the years.

It was created for the sole purpose of allowing humanity to survive in conditions hostile to life such as Mars, Pluto, and Mercury. However, the more the suit has to work to keep you alive, the more often it needs to be charged.

The suit itself was a basic black. After all, these were meant for planets that had no life; camoflauge wasn't exactly necessary. It had a retractable polarized visor allowing the wearer to look directly at the sun if need be. As a side effect, the wearer looked like a pillar of black metal.

He stepped up to it and activated the release, opening the front of the suit. He stepped into it before closing it again.

 _"Activating Planetary Settler Suit."_

 _"Radiation Protection Online."_

 _"Thermal Regulators Online."_

 _"Oxygen Regulators Online."_

 _"Battery 100%"_

 _"All Backup Batteries 300% Total."_

 _"All Systems Online."_

John smiled to himself. _Ready to survive anything._

He walked out of the side room and back onto the main armory. He placed both rifles on magnetic strips on his back, aligning them vertically, and placed the pistol on his hip. On his way out he grabbed a case of various acids and bases as well as a medkit. _Just in case._

As he walked through the ship, it struck him once again how empty the ship was and how lonely he was.

 _Not the time for this. I have to get down there and set up a base._

Soon enough, he arrived at the door to a room specially designed for the storage of various machinery. He entered it and walked over to the walls and grabbed an AtmoSynth, and several canisters filled with a combination of gasses identical to Earth's atmosphere. He placed them onto a cart.

An AtmoSynth was a machine that is filled with several gases, such as Oxygen and Nitrogen, and is capable of regulating a room's atmosphere. They were designed to fill a TerraDome, as anything much larger and the machine wouldn't work.

He then grabbed a TerraDome and placed it onto the cart as well, then strapped it all down. A TerraDome is a small bundle of a synthetic, stretchable fabric. When hook up to an AtmoSynth, it will expand to 25 meters across dome.

 _I'll have to come back for the larger gear. I'll need to attach it to the bottom of the Orbiter._

He grabbed the cart and pushed it through the door, before heading toward the hanger. As he reached the entrance, he entered the Airlock. He heard the door shut and the air slowly pulled out of the room.

 _I remember how researchers tried to create a type of energy field, like the one in Stat Wars, to keep the air in the hangar, but they couldn't. Instead, they gave up and placed massive airlocks as the entrances._

Soon, he heard the airlock hiss and the door openedand he looked into the massive hangar. The hangar was a massive area that was completely open to space. The only thing keeping the ships from floating out was massive clamps holding everything down.

Inside were several ships, but only one mattered at this time. The _Explorer_ , an Orbiter class ship.

Orbiters are small ships capable of orbiting a planet, hence the name. This allows them to travel between a planet and the moons. They aren't rated for deep space travel, but are technically able to do it anyway.

The _Explorer_ was a ship around 50 meters long and 30 wide. It was, like all Orbiters, meant to take supplies and passengers between a planet and it's moons. It was, like most of the ship, completely black with a few gray parts.

Due to the purpose of the Orbiter class ship, it held a loading bay, a medical facility with an machine capable of automated surgery, a small host of cryopods, and a small group of beds, each in it's own room.

As the airlock opened, he felt the the normal weightlessness of High Planetary-Orbit, due to the hangar being one of the only places in the ship that did not have Articical Gravity.

He used a series of poles to pull himself towards the _Explorer_ , pulling the cart along with him as he went. He soon approached the loading door to the Orbiter and used the side panel to open it. He pushed the cart up the panel and entered the ship, closing the door behind him.

He pushed the cart into a corner and strapped it in place. John then floated to the ship's cockpit and pulled himself into the chair, then strapped himself in. He performed a quick systems check and learned that all systems were working properly.

He activated the engine and pulled out of the hangar. He turned and headed toward the planet, but as he did, he stopped and gazed at the star, planet, and five moons.

 _Phanes. The planet will be Phanes Prime, the five moons will be Phanes Alpha, Beta, Delta, Epsilion, and Theta. Alpha will be the one who has the life._

XXX

He touched down onto Phanes Alpha a few hours later. He had landed in the Northern Hemisphere, in the massive forest. He was amazed at how developed the life was. It had been a popular belief for centuries that any life would either be massively more advanced, or little more than bacteria.

The moon's life was more than bacteria, but had no signs of civilization- or none that can be seen from space. If there was any intelligent life, they were not likely not a space faring species.

 _Hmm. Centuries of believing that we would be amazed by their technology. What happens if_ they _are amazed by_ us?

He stood up and walked towards the loading door of the ship. He tapped several buttons on the control panel and watched as the door slid open. He walked out the door and looked around at the trees.

 _Holy shit, they're massive!_

Each tree had to have been at least 200 meters tall, and around 25 meters around. The bark was brown, but with a orange tint to it. The green leaves, starting at around 50 meters up, had a blue tint as well. The canopy was massive, but let plenty of light through.

Between the trees were massive amounts of undergrowth, growing up to five meters tall. It filled almost all the space between the trunks.

 _Oh, I'm going to love it here, studying the world and everything about it._

Inside the suit and behind the polarized visor, John smiled to himself, already eager to begin research of the planet. Then he got to business.

 _Should I set up the base now or explore the surrounding area?_ John comtemplated his options for a short while.

 _I'll explore first, the set everything up. It'll likely take me a week or more to get it all ready._ He looked at the star _\- Feels weird to have a red sun-_ and started to determine which way was north. Then he felt like slapping himself.

 _The world might not have the same axis angle, or rotate in the same direction. The sun might not rise northeast and set southwest._

He quickly used his Mobile Mapping System* to set a waypoint at his currently location and set off through the woods. As he walked, he marvelled at the plant life, and realized he should have brought a camera.

 _Does this suit have one built in?_

"Computer, does this suit have a camera?"

 _"Negative."_

 _Thought so. These settler suits were designed to help someone survive on a new planet, not necessary research it._ _Hehe, if someone had heard me say that, I would have sounded crazy._

"Computer, all spoken words begining with 'Project' are to be sent through the external speakers. The effect will last until I say 'End Project.'"

 _"Command saved and activated. Once the word 'Project' is spoken, all following words will be routed to external speakers. Once 'End Project' is spoken, the effect will end."_

Navarone nodded to himself, then returned his attention to the world around him. He walked for several hours, circling around the clearing in bigger circles each time, allowing the MMS to map his surroundings.

Eventually, it got dark and he activated the map into his visor and followed it back to the ship. He soon returned and entered the ship and walked to Room 1.

He opened the suit and stepped out, then sat down on the bed.

 _With how_ _evolved the plant life is, I'd assume that there was some form of animalistic life, even if I didn't recognize it, but there was nothing out there. Not even radar picked anything up._ _This means one of three things. One, this planet is old enough for plant life, but not animal life. Two, animals avoid this region, but that would make no sense. There's plenty of food and water around here. Or three, the most likely, is that the ship's engine scared everything off._

He soon lied down and slowly drifted off to sleep, prepared to begin setting up a base.

However, what he didn't notice was that he had been watched ever since he exited the ship that morning.

XXX

He awoke early the next morning-when the alarms began blaring.

 _"-ing bay control panel."_

John jumped up and put on the Settler Suit and waited for the computer to repeat the alarm.

 _"Warning, unknown entity attempting to access exterior loading bay control panel."_

 _Holy shit!_

"Computer, deactivate current alarm."

The alarm stopped, but John still ran towards the loading bay, his footsteps pounding on the metal floor the entire run. As he reached the door to the loading bay, he pulled the ERG off his back, and armed it.

He then entered the bay to see that the door was still firmly shut. He then pressed a button on the panel to see if the camera caught whatever was there.

He dropped his gun. It hit the floor with a dull thud.

The camera clearly showed a vague figure in front of the panel. The being was blocking out all light, and it was too close for the camera to pick up any details.

"What the fuck _is_ that?"

He opened the bay door, and as it was raising, he grabbed the gun and made sure it was still primed, them aimed out the door. When it was opened, he saw-

Nothing.

There was nothing out there. He activated the thermal visor and looked around. Other than the bushes and trees, there was nothing around.

He cautiously stepped forward out of the ship and looked around. Not seeing anything out of place. Nothing was hotter than a normal plant. No movement other than wind.

John reactivated the rifle and replaced it back on his back, before turning around and walking the shop, closing the door and setting a password on the control panel.

XXX

A figure, coated in mud, watched as the mountain of black material walked back into the ship. The figure was breathing hard, and it's heart was beating in fear.

It turned and started running away, convinced that the mud had saved _her_ life.

XXX

A week and two days passed, during which John had set up a rudimentary research station. It was, understandably, makeshift and temporary.

It consisted of one TerraDome for the research of materials found, and another for the research of any creatures native to this planet.

However, John felt he was being watched. Constantly. There were several different events that convinced him of this.

First, John had an encounter with a creature on his fourth day.

The creature was a four legged beast, reminiscent of a panther. It was mostly black, with a kind of oily hide, and held precisely 24 yellow dots on it's back. It was obviously a carnivore, and had blue eyes. He determined it was a male.

How did he know that? It's body was in the second TerraDome with a hole in it's chest, courtesy of the ERG. It attacked him, and refused to be scared away, even when it's claws only slightly scratched his suit.

Curiously, when John shot it, as the normal _boom_ sounded, he could have sworn he heard a yelp from _behind_ him. When he spun around, there was nothing there, not even on thermal. That was event one.

Then, when he was exploring farther from his base on the sixth day, he heard several bushes rustle, and a dead branch snap. That was two.

Finally, was today, day nine. John was looking at one of the green/blue leaves through a microscope, trying to determine what it is about the plant's biology that gave it a blue tint. He had already determined that it was a genetic adaptation of the chlorophyll, but he was studying _why_ it had that difference.

He then heard a high-pitched grunt of pain, and spun around, detaching his stun pistol as he did. He saw a dark shape dart between the trees and chased after it.

He chased it through the woods, dodging and ducking trees and bushes. However, he was losing it, as he had to barrel through the undergrowth, whereas it was dodging through it.

This had the effect that he soon lost it completely. He stopped and activated his thermal and looked around, not seeing anything.

"Well, fuck. I lost it."

John activated his MMS and traced his path back to the base. Once he neared, he turned and went to where the being had been.

He crouched and studied the ground. The grass had been flattened and the bushes had a small hole. There was blood on a small thorn bushes to the side. All in all, it painted a clear picture to John.

 _It had_ _been kneeling here for several hours. It pushed the bushes to get a better view. When it did, it cut itself in thorns. That's the noise I heard. It ran once it saw me spin._

He stood up and began to walk away, before seeing something brown on the bush. He leaned closer, then frowned as he realized what it was.

 _So the thing had been coating itself in mud. That's probably_ _why it looked so dark, and it doesn't appear on thermal._

John turned and walked back, thinking to himself.

 _Infrared or X-Ray. I'll see that damn thing next time._

XXX

The figure was crouched in a new area, and watched as the being examined the bush where she was at before. She watched as it saw the mud, and walked away. As it did, she followed it.

She watched it for another hour, intermittedly berrating herself for the noise she had made. Eventually, she started to leave. She turned and crouch-walked away, before turning and looking one more time. Her heart stopped.

The being was looking directly at her. She knew it had figured out her trick with the mud, and had ways to find her anyway.

She turned and ran away, not caring at the noise or path she made. She needed to get away.

XXX

 **That's the end of Chapter 2 of _First Contact._ A lot happened. The base is set up, the figure ****appeared, and the first species has been shown.**

 **Onto the explanations.**

 **MMS, or Mobile Mapping System, is a device** **built** **into settler suits that uses Radar to map the area within 5 meters, then records the data. The more you explore, the better the map.**

 **Now, onto the species.** **I placed the symbol next to the species. Anytime you see that, it means I want _you_ to suggest a name for it.**

 **Only one this chapter, and it's a panther-like** **creature** **with a kind of exoskeleton. It has 24 yellow dots on it's back, sharp teeth, and blue eyes. It it also aggressive.**


	3. Chapter 3

**And I'm back with Chapter 3 of _First Contact_. I'm sorry for how long the wait is, but I'm busy quiet often and unable to work on chapters.**

 **On the subject of the Panther-esque creature mentioned last chapter, a guest suggested the name Oldolon, which had been chosen.**

 **Also, I am looking for a beta reader, if anyone is interested, and has the spare time.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Alien, Predator, or Aliens/Predator.**

XXX

They day dawned on John's fourteenth day on Phanes Alpha, two weeks after he landed. Roughly four days after his last encounter with an unknown being, the very one he discovered using X-Rays, although it was very disorienting to work with that activated.

Today, he was planning to examine, in depth, the animal that had attacked him a few days ago. He planned to record his observation and transmit then back to ISEA.

He went about his morning business of getting dressed, relieving himself, eating breakfast, donning his Settler Suit, and grabbing and attaching his weapons.

He then opened the door to the ship and walked outside, then started walking towards the TerraDome which held the creatures body.

As he neared the entrance, he stopped and activated the suit's built in X-Ray. While originally intended to allow others to determine the extent of an individual's injuries without removing the suit, it allowed John to keep track of the being that watched him.

The being, honestly, confused John. After he had discovered how to keep track of it, it had ran away after it noticed he was looking at it. It stayed gone for two days, before coming back.

When it did, he found it with X-Ray before checking it with thermal. It had coated itself in even more mud, or another substance, as before it had blended in with the foliage, but now stood out as a cold spot.

Then it had watched him, running away any time he neared. He soon began to ignore it and focus on his work. Not long after it would stay longer and closer, becoming more bold.

This was the source of John's confusion. The being's actions seemed to suggest a form of intelligence, possibly even sentience. If so, how intelligent was it? As intelligent as a monkey, or maybe more like a human.

As he looked around, he saw the being staying around fifteen meters back, staying perfectly still and watching him.

He smiled, although he knew it couldn't see his face. He entered the Dome before taking his suit off. He stood it next to the entrance. He then put a crisp white lab coat over his clothing.

Inside the building, there were various scientific equipment scattered throughout the room, near the walls. In the center of the room was two operating tables, along with various other tables of instruments.

One of the tables was completely empty. The other held a odd body, one which had been opened up and surgically examined.

The body was rather long, with a black, oily hide. No fur was anywhere on it's body. It had four legs meant for speed, but not endurance. Each leg ended in a paw that held three toes facing backward and one facing forward.

Coming from it's hind end was a long, segmented black tail. The tail was separated into three sections, the last of which, the tip, was covered in small black spines.

This specimen was not the same that attacked John earlier that month, but rather was another he found, one that had died of natural causes.

He walked over to a table and grabbed a video camera and set it up facing the body. He then set it to record after ten seconds and then activated it.

While the timer counted down, he walked over to the table and donned a pair of sterilized plastic gloves. The camera lit up with a red dot and he began speaking.

"This is Jonathan Calligan, sole pilot of the _Unto the Horizon_. I am reporting on one of the native species of Phanes Alpha, the moon containing lifeforms."

John then gestured towards the body on the table.

"Next to me is an example of a hunter species that lives within the massive forest I find as my residence. I have named it _currens silvarum_ as it's scientific name, and the Oldolon as it's common name."

John walked around the table to stand next to the Oldolon's head.

"Let's start at the head. With my current equipment, I can only examine so deeply, but what I have found amazes me."

"The Oldolon's eyes are multifaceted, similar to a flies, giving an incredible sense of movement. It is also capable of seeing in the ultraviolet spectrum."

"It's nose is extremely powerful, able to smell blood in the air, even if the prey isn't bleeding. It's mouth has two rows of serrated teeth, and houses two tounges, one on top and one on bottom."

"For all intent and purposes, the bottom tounge is rather average. The top tounge, however, is coated in an acidic substance similar to stomach acid."

"The acid massively speeds up the digestive process. The Oldolon's body seems to be completely immune to the acid."

John continued to walk near the section of the body he was speaking about.

"Next comes it's main body. It it covered in a black hide that is remarkably tough, able to resist an impressive amount of force from hits both blunt and sharp."

"It's entire body is coated in an oil that is mildly poisonous, and likely unappetizing. The oil also serves to regulate the Oldolon's temperature as the beast has no sweat glands."

"Inside the body are somewhat familiar organs. The heart has six chambers, not four. It has three lungs, and it's stomach is much smaller than you'd expect, likely due to the faster digestive system."

"The two kidneys are far more powerful than a human's, and the liver as well. It's intestines are shorter than normal."

"The most interesting aspect of the organs is that there are four I can not identify. I will continue to research these organs, and report them at a later date."

"Next are the legs, which are built for speed. However, the creature's endurance is rather lacking. Each limb ends in a paw. Each paw holds four toes, all of which end with a claw."

"Three toes are facing backward and one forward. All four claws are constantly coated in a special chemical, which the being produces in it's own body."

"This chemical has absolutely no effect. on the human body, which after verifying it, I tested it. However, this chemical is massively acidic to the native flora of this planet. It has a slightly weaker effect on the various insect species of this world. I have been unable to acquire specimens of any other complex lifeforms so far."

"Finally comes the tail. It seems to be rather powerfully built, theoretically able to crush iron and crude steel. It it segmented into three sections, with the first two covered in a type of hide even harder than normal."

"The final segment is covered in a weaker hide that is bristling with small spines. Analysis suggests that the spines are capable of being launched out of the tail with a series of muscle movements, although I will have to verify that at a later date."

"Overall the _currens silvarum_ is a fascinating species. I will continue to research both this and any other species I come across, and report then at a later date."

"On another subject, another being had been watching me since I touched down. It has coated itself in mud to escape thermal, and attempted to cover itself on more mud to escape X-Ray, It even attempted to open the door to the ship using the panel, although It is unknown whether or not it was simply mimicking me. I will do what I can to learn more of this creature." John finishes, before deactivating the camera.

He then used a cord to transfer the video onto an SD card and placed it into a storage compartment in his suit.

He then covered the body with a sheet and took off the gloves and coat. He walked over to the Settler Suit and put it back on. He exited the building soon after and activated X-Ray once again.

He then looked around and saw that the being had moved closer, now on the very edge of the clearing, just barely out of the edge of unaided sight.

He looked at the sun and saw that it was nearing midday and decided to go inside the ship and eat lunch before heading out and mapping more of his surroundings.

He walked to the ship's interface panel and type in the code- 089416. When the door was raised he walked inside and closed it behind him. He exited the Settler Suit.

It is getting tiring constantly entering and exiting the suit, but it's better than risking if those unknown gasses are poisonous, or risking being mauled by an Oldolon or another creature.

He walked into the ship's kitchen and looked into the fridge, and sighed at the fact that it was nearly empty.

 _I'm going to need to make a supply run soon._

He grabbed a eggs, cheese, jalapenos, and tomatoes, then began to create an omelette.

 _I know it's breakfast food, but it's good and I'm hungry._

After the omelette was done, he sat down and began eating. Lunch passed quickly and he entered the ship's cockpit and powered the engines and began taking off.

He soon left the world's atmosphere and headed towards the main ship, planning on resupplying the ship.

He was awed, as always, by the sheer size of the ship. It also amazed him that it could sustain and entire town indefinitely. The ship had UV lights, water supplies, and an oxygen cycle to allow farms and farm animals.

It was literally a self-sustaining ecosystem.

John docked in the same hangar he left from and pulled himself to the airlock. He then entered it and allowed the room to be pressurized and the Artificial Gravity to activate. He made his way to the storage room and instructed three bots to resupply his ship.

The bots, unlike Androids, had no form of A.I. They were programmed to perform a specific task after being command, and would return to a type of sleep mode when finished.

He then walked to the Control Room and took the SD card containing the video of the Oldolon research out of his suit and plugged it into the computer. He then used the Relay to send it back to HQ.

He turned around and was startled to see Madison standing behind him.

She smirked. "Startled you, didn't I?"

John opened the visor to his helmet and spoke. "Honestly? Yeah, you did. I didn't hear you enter."

"A.I.s can be quiet- when we want to be, at least."

"I noticed."

Madison noticed the transmitter light was blinking after a pause. "What did you send?"

John smiled. "A video of my research of the Oldolon."

"Ah, so you finally settled on a name for it?" Madison asked, intrigued.

"Yep. Oldolon as its common name and its scientific name is currens silvarum."

Madison nodded. "You came back for a resupply?"

"Yeah, I started to run low on food. After the bots finish resupplying my ship, I'll return."

Madison shifted slightly. "John, may I come with you when you return down there?"

John smiled and nodded. "Of course you can, I'm sure it gets rather boring up here. It'd be nice to have an extra set of hands anyway."

"Thank you, John."

He smiled at her and nodded again. "You're welcome."

At that moment, a bot walked in.

"John, your ship is fully restocked." It said in a mechanical voice.

"Thank You. Dismissed." John said, and the bot turned and walked away, presumably to return to the storage room and enter sleep mode.

"You ready?" John asked the A.I.

"Yes. Let's go." Came the reply.

They both walked towards the hangar and waited for the air lock to depressurize. They then entered the _Explorer_ and John started the engine and piloted the ship out of the hangar and towards Phanes Alpha.

It wasn't long before they touched down and they both disembarked the ship, John in his Settler Suit and Madison in her normal clothes.

"This place is amazing!" Madison, understandably, was awed at the flora of the alien planet.

"Madison, go ahead and explore the place. I'm going to map some more of our surroundings."

Madison nodded, distracted by her surroundings.

"Go ahead. I'll be here." She said, her voice distracted.

John smiled and walked off, polarizing his helmet.

"Computer, activate MMS."

 _"Mobile Mapping System Active."_

John then returned to the place where he had stopped and continued walking. He was mapping the surroundings by walking in ever-increasing circles around his base.

He walked and as he did, he thought to himself.

 _I love exploring this world. It is amazing to be the first human on a new world. It isn't without it's share of dangers, though. There is no telling what kinds of creatures are in this world._

 _I wonder if there are any intelligent species. Once I set up fully, I should explore those other regions and see if there is anything there._

 _I'll need to set up a farm down here and being a few bots to take care of it. A fence may be good to keep animals out._

As John walked, he heard a scream come from his right, away from his base. He immediately stopped, activated thermal, and looked around.

 _"John, what was that?"_ Madison'svoice came over the internal speakers, his suit and her computer being linked.

"Madison, stay at the base. Grab a gun out of the ship and lock the doors. I'm going to see what that was. I've never heard of an animal _screaming._ "John said, quickly.

" _Very well. Keep your gun armed at all times and be prepared for anything."_ Her voice came again, before the speakers cut off.

John pulled the ERG off of his back and armed It, watching as the blue lights on the side lit up. Once it was fully armed and ready to fire, he took off in the direction of the scream.

In the distance, the thermal showed a cold being being chased by an Oldolon.

 _Holy shit! Its the being that had been watching me!_

As he neared, he heard another scream, obviously coming from the being. He heard something that nearly made him trip.

" _Kee'lan te de-na!"_

"Madison, I found the source of the scream." John said as he continued to run, slowly gaining on the two beings.

"It is the being that has been stalking me. Its being chased by an Oldolon."

"Madison, you won't fucking believe this, but it _spoke_. I didn't understand what it said, probably something along the lines of, 'Someone help me.' Sending the audio file now."

John continued gaining for a few seconds before a reply came. " _Okay, I'm going to search around the base for anything else."_

"Got it. Don't let anything sneak up on you. Keep thermal active."

 _"I'll be fine. Don't worry_." She said, right before she deactivated the speakers.

John was extremely close at this point, close enough to see that only two things were keeping the beast from catching the strange being."

The first was that the Oldolon was not built for endurance, so it's energy wad beginning to flag. The second was that it wwas able to dodge in between trees and change direction, forcing the Oldolon to lose speed, therefore lose ground. It would catch back up in clearings, though.

However, its luck ran out when it came across a massive clearing. The Oldolon caught up and pounced on the being. It issue another scream and from this distance, John could tell that the scream was feminine, so he assumed it was female. On this new world, anything was possible, though.

The being fell and the Oldolon bit into it's shoulder. The possibly female being kicked the animal off, before being batted into a tree, where is was presumably knocked unconscious, as it did not get back up.

As the Oldolon stalked towards the downed bipedal being, John burst into the clearing, his gun already swinging to aim at the beast.

 _Kra-thoom!_ Came the report as the gun fired its payload, a massive slug of partially molten metal flying at three times the speed of sound. It hit the Oldolon just before the middle of it's back, blowing a massive chunk out of the beast and killing it instantly.

John lowered his gun and looked around with thermal. Once he saw that it was all clear, he deactivated thermal and turned his attention back to the being.

The moment his eyes settled on the being, his face went absolutely deadpan. If his face could have been seen through his polarized visor, they would have seen no expression at all, rather reminiscent of a certain creepypasta.

"Are you fucking kidding me. Hundreds of years of searching for life, of theorizing what intelligent life would look like, and I finally found it. AND IT IS A FUCKING FURRY!" John raged.

'Furry' was a rather appripriate term. The being was bipedal, and coated in a thin layer of fur. Her main color was black, and where her joints were, the fur was an orange color. On closer examination, her paws were the same.

She was, mercifully, wearing clothing. The color was rather indiscernible due to a heavy layer of mud coating the entire being. Her form was somewhat feminine- in the sense that she was thin at the waist and had a curvy chest.

John could not determine whether her stomach was a different color, due to both the mud and the clothing.

Her shoulder was bleeding heavily with a large wound, the spot where she was bitten.

"The being was injured. I'm bringing her, I think, back to the ship for medical attention."

" _Got it, and I found something as well, some kind of egg."_

"Bring it back and place it in a box in the TerraDome."

" _Alright."_

John bent down and grabbed the female and carried her bridal style to the ship, sprinting the entire way.

He soon reached the ship and was thankful that the door was already opened. He ran inside and placed the being on an operation table and grabbed a medical kit off of the wall.

He poured water on it's shoulder to flush the wound and clean the mud off the surround shoulder. he grabbed a suture and thread and stitched the wound shut, taking care not to injure her more than she already was. Lastly, he disinfected the wound and bandaged it.

After he was finished, he sat down and retracted his helmet's visor just as Madison walked in.

She stopped at the sight of the being on the table before walking in fully.

"That's 'her?'" She asked.

"Yep. She was running from an Oldolon. It bit her before I killed it."

"Will she survive?"

"Maybe. I cleaned the wound, but an Oldolon's saliva is acidic. We'll have to wait and see."

Madison nodded and they continued to watch the rise and fall of the being's breathing, a single thought in both of their minds.

 _Who is she and will she live?_

XXX

 **A few people have asked me via PM the difference between polarizing and retracting John's visor.**

 **John's visor it curved, just enough that when he retracts it, it slides into his helmet, leaving the front of his helmet open to the outside.**

 **When his visor is polarized, it becomes adjusted to all light levels, allowing him to see in pitch black as well as blindingly bright. This has the effect of his visor be coming pitch black, and not transparent.**

 **Also, the first mention of what makes this an Alien/Predator story finally happens...It only took three chapters.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Here we are with Chapter 4 of First Contact. Last chapter, a certain Android discovered an egg. We know what the egg was, but _you_ don't know what is going to happen. Almost guaranteed. You can try to guess though.**

 **In the past chapters, an element called Ununoctium was mentioned. This element is real, it is number 118, and the last element physically possible. 8 days before this story was uploaded, the element was given an official name. I learned this a few days ago. From now on, it is called Oganesson. One little fact is that it was first synthesized by JINR or the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, a company ran by Americans and Russians.**

 **Sorry for it being so late. I had some difficulty getting it edited. I'll try not to take so long next time.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Aliens, Predator, or Aliens vs. Predator. Although, Predators won't be in this story anyway.**

XXX

John walked back into the ship, detaching his helmet from the suit and wiping the little sweat that had accumulated off his brow. He walked towards the medical facility and met the resident Android outside.

"How was it?" Madison asked, referring to John's task.

"I just finished moving the egg into a secure chamber inside the TerraDome. I doubt it is alive, though. It was completely dried up, almost as if it was dead for centuries." John and Madison continued into the infirmary and the being inside. He placed his helmet down and sat down on a stool a little from the bed. On the bed lay the lay the fox-like creature John had found and rescued day before.

"After we deal with the being, I'll probably dissect the egg and see what I can learn. How is she doing?" John asked, indicating the injured being.

Only a day had passed since the being, designated Specimen-PA for the time being, had been brought onto the _Explorer_. That time had been spent contacting ISEA on Earth and giving them an update, moving and securing the egg, and preparing for a possible First Contact situation.

Madison had watched Specimen-PA, waiting to see of it, probably she, would awaken. She had changed her bandages from generic cloth to a clear plastic that shrunk and conformed to cover the shoulder completely by absorbing a portion of the affected area's heat. She had also coated the shoulder in a type of gel that would speed up the healing process by providing nutrients on site as well as stimulate cell growth.

"Specimen-PA is doing fine; her should is healing at a decent pace and she seems to be slightly resistent to the Oldolon's acid. At the very least, its not dissolving her shoulder like we suspected. She hasn't woken yet, but it's only a matter of time. I also tested her blood like you asked; she is not allergic to anything."

John nodded and Madison voiced a concern she had. "What are we going to do when she wakes up? What if she is hostile?"

"First, we can only hope that my helmet can match her language to some known one on Earth. Its how we learned new languages; we compared the roots of the unknown language to ours. If the computer can detect traces of a known language, it should, hopefully, be able to attempt a translation." John paused for a breath then continued.

"Second, really? You are an Android, and I'm in a metal suit. I have three weapons strapped to me and you can bend steel bare-handed. She's injured. I doubt we have a problem if she's hostile."

Madison nodded, the asked another question. "How would the computer detect traces of our languages on a different planet?"

John shrugged. "I don't really know. I didn't understand it, but what I do know is the computer notes the tone and situation, determines the translation, and works from there."

Madison nodded, accepting his answer, and stood up. "I need to recharge my battery. I'll be in the engine room and 'sleep.' Alert me if she wakes up. You might need my help."

"Alright. I will." John replied, knowing that he wouldn' alien entities might be too much for Specimen-PA to handle.

Madison left and John waited fifteen minutes before walking out and heading to the kitchen. He took out chicken, celery, onions, and carrots and started chopping the vegetables. He took out a soup pot and filled it with cold water and placed it into an Oganesson-powered stove.

 _Heh, I remember reading how Oganesson used to be called Ununoctium until they figured out a name for it._

He placed the chopped carrots, onions, and celery into the pot with the chicken and let it simmer. As it cooked, he checked on Specimen-PA and saw that nothing had changed. He grabbed his helmet and magnetically attached it to his waist and went back to the kitchen.

He waited until the soup was done and pulled it off the stove, smiling at the smell. _Good thing I have this suit on. I'm sure the pot is hot. The Oganesson-powered stove is really efficient as well. Good to know JINR finally found a use for it._

He pulled two bowls out of a cabinet and used a large spoon to fill them both. He pulled out two more, smaller spoons from a drawer and placed one into each bowl and carried them back into the infirmary.

 _I_ _know she'll be hungry. She hasn't eaten in at least a day._

He set one down on a table near the bed and retook his seat on a stool and began eating the soup. Halfway through it, he looked over at the being and took in her appearance fully for the first time.

She had been cleaned of the mud that had previously covered her, revealing her physical appearance to him. Her head was rounded, like a human's, with a small muzzle coming out of it. She had two black ears with a dark pink, almost red, interior poking out of her head like a fox, except hers were rounded. Her fur was primarily black with orange joints, neck, and from the little he could see, chest and stomach.

Her arms and legs both ended in paws and each paw held three fingers and a thumb, each ending in a small but sharp claw.

 _Opposable thumbs; the universal sign of intelligent life._ John thought with a hint of amusement.

One major noticeable trait is that her arms were down to her knees, unlike a human's which goes to the thigh, giving her the ability to move on all fours.

 _Surely she could have run from the Oldolon on all fours. It is undoubtedly faster than moving on two legs; more stable, too. Maybe it's uncomfortable?_

Her knees- and this unnerved John- were double-jointed, with an extra forward bending joint on the 'shin.' John wouldn't have noticed it if the extra joint wasn't already slightly bent.

 _Why bend that direction, though? Two joints ending on the same direction have absolutely no purpose that I can think of. Maybe it helps them fit in tight spaces?_

Her tail was rather different than your 'average' tail. It was prehensile and covered in fur slightly denser than the rest of her body. It was almost completely black with almost-red rings. The tip was the interesting part; it held a sharp pseudo-blade that was pure white and protruded several inches.

She was covered in simple black clothing. Specifically a vest and a pair of pants. The vest covered her chest and part of her arms, while the pants cover her waist and legs. The material seemed to be made of some kind of plant fiber, which was rather strong and flexible.

 _That clothing reminds me of the 21th Kevlar. I wonder if it has similar properties._

The only evidence of her being hooked up to any machines was a small pad on her wrist and neck. She was attached to a MCBM, or Minimal Contact Bodily Monitor, a more advanced version of the 21st Century EKG.

The machine measured her heartbeat, breathing rate, and brain activity. It also measured any abnormal activity in the electrical signals throughout the body, especially in the spinal cord. Finally, it would measure any for of abnormality such as breathing difficulties and heart issues.

As John finished studying Specimen-PA, he noticed that it was moving more than before. It seemed to be waking up. He grabbed his helmet and slipped it over his face and closed the door, then returned to his seat. He magnetically detached his guns and placed the ERG and AMR on the ground, safety on. He took the Stun Pistol and made sure the voltage was set to 15,000, which when used in a quick burst, is not lethal. He placed the pistol on his lap.

Soon after, the being's eyes opened, revealed to be a bright shade of pink. The pupil was odd; a combination of slit and round. It was a round ball in the center with a vertical slit coming out of it, seemingly blending mammal and reptile eyes. The eye, otherwise, was rather similar to a human's.

The Specimen looked around the room and seemed worried, nervous even, of the understandably unfamiliar environment she found herself in. She sat up quickly only to hiss in pain and grab her shoulder. She inspected it and seemed confused at the clear bandage covering the wound, and the odd gel coating it. She poked at it only to jerk her hand away in pain.

"Project." John said, using the command he inputed days ago to prevent commands being projected from speakers.

" _Command recognized and active._ "

"You might not want to move to fast. Your shoulder isn't fully healed." John spoke needlessly, knowing that the being likely couldn't understand him.

When he spoke, Specimen-PA's head snapped around and she noticed John sitting nearby, fully covered in his suit. She, obviously, did not recognize him, but recognized the dark suit he wore. She knew immediately that she was in the home of the being she had been watching for over a week.

John knew he had been seen and recognized when she tensed and stared at him. Moving slowly as to not startle her, he grabbed the second bowl of soup and pushed it toward her slightly. She looked at it suspiciously before leaning in and smelling it.

 _She must be able to detect ingredients in various mixtures. She's likely checking for anything poisonous._ John mused to himself. _That or it just smells good._

She seemed satisfied and picked up the bowl. She wolfed down the soup in under a minute before placing the bowl back down. John noticed that she didn't use the spoon and simply speared the chicken with her claws and drank the soup. He grabbed the bowl and slowly stood up before exiting the room, re-sealing the door behind him.

He refilled the bowl and brought it back, then placed it in front of the being and sat back down. Once again, Specimen-PA devoured the soup. However, she didn't finish it this time. A little over a quarter was left when she placed the bowl down.

John sat there and studied Specimen-PA and how she was acting, taking note of her fidgiting behavior and how she kept glancing around.

" _Keä ta_." John blinked in surprise when she spoke.

 _So I wasn't imagining things. I mean, even though I recorded it and sent the audio file to Madison, I honestly thought that I imagined it._

"End Project." John spoke.

" _Command recognized and activated."_ The system's computer replied.

"Run comparison of Unknown Language and all known languages."

" _Running Comparison."_

As John's AI ran a comparison between Specimen-PA's language and all known human languages, John returned his attention to the being. She was looking around constantly, seemingly fascinated by her surroundings. He understood her fascination considering it was alien technology to him.

She seemed specially interested in the MCBM, although that may be because it was beeping and had flashing lights.

" _Comparison finished. Unknown Language contains trace connections to_ _Latin, Ancient Greek, and Celtic."_ John hummed slightly at that.

"An interesting combination for sure, but very fortunate. Now, let's see if it's good enough to translate. Computer, attempt translation of last recorded instance of the Unknown Language."

" _Attempting Translation._ "

John waited while the computer attempted the translation and watched as Specimen-PA fiddled with the pads attached to her. She reached up and pulled the one off of her neck off only to jump off the bed and land on her back when the MCBM emitted a long, high pitched sound. John laughed slightly and walked over and flipped the power switch and returned to his seat.

She peeked over the bed to see him back in his seat and the machine off. She stood up and sat back on the bed, seemingly enjoying the softness of it.

" _Keä ta."_ She spoke again, smiling at him.

 _Hmm. She seems to be rather trusting. I know I'd be expecting a fight. She seems completely calm. Not scared, suspicious, or_ _even angry. She's simply curious. Is that just her, or her entire culture? At least that means she isn't violent._ " _Translation Completely._ Keä ta _translates_ _approximately to_ thank you. _Two-way translations possible."_ The computer replied, making John happy.

"All instances of the Unknown Language is to be translated immediately. When the word 'translate' is spoken, the next sentence will be translated to the Unknown Language. When 'end translations' is spoken, translations to the Unknown Language will stop. When 'begin translations' is spoken, translations to the Unknown Language will begin."

" _Commands recognized and active."_

"Translate: You are welcome."

XXX

The day before ended rather badly. She had been walking cautiously towards the strange area where the even stranger being had made its home when she stepped on a large branch and it snapped, alerting an Alavan, which proceeded to chase her through the woods.

She managed to stay ahead of it by darting between trees but her luck ran out when she ran into a large clearing, allowing the Alavan to catch up. The last thing she remembered was a searing pain in her shoulder.

She wakes assume, possibly the next day, to what seems a completely new world. There is an odd and slightly annoying beeping sound in the background. The bed was extremely soft and made of a weird material. There was a strange covering and jelly on her wounded shoulder. Last but not least, the being she had been watching for nearly two weeks was sitting next to her.

To be fair, she was thankful that her life was saved. However, she was originally scared that she was going to be hurt or even eaten, but that went away when she was given food, which was good because she was hingry, and even helped when that being thing made a loud noise, which was also good because it was painful.

She thanked him again when he sat back down, smiling at him as well. It didn't react, so she didn't thing it could understand her.

" _Jkwig welcome."_ She blinked and looked at it when it spoke, even when it didn't seem to have a mouth to speak with. The first word was garbled and unintelligible but the second was easily recognized.

She giggled. "You're welcome. _You_ _are_ _welcome_." She spoke slowly, pronouncing each syllable.

XXX

 _Seems that the translation doesn't work as well as I though._

 _"Nah vee mah._ " She pronounced slowly, teaching him how to say _you're welcome._

 _She must want to teach me a bit of her language. I might as well oblige her._

"Project. End translations" He said.

" _Commands recognized and activated."_

"Navë ma." He repeated, knowing he got it right when she smiled and nodded.

 _Might as well get names out the way._

He placed a hand on his chest, or rather the metal covering his chest, and started to pronounce his name, slowly and carefully. "John. _Juh on_."

He had to consciously hold back a laugh as she tried to pronounce his name, which was understandably difficult as it was from completely different world.

" _Gahnn_ , _Jahnn, Jahn, John!"_ He smiled, then realized she couldn't see it and nodded his head.

She repeated his action by placing a hand on her chest and started to articulate her name, also pronouncing each syllable slowly. " _Miwànë_. _Me wan e."_

"Miwànë." John said, slightly proud that he got it right on the first time. She smiled and nodded again, seemingly happy that he was getting the language.

 _She is_ really _trusting. She's already treating me like an old friend. She's so much like a human but so different at the same time. It's only rather refreshing._ This time she did something different. She pointed at herself then waved her hand around as if referencing a whole and spoke again. " _Kyrithians. Taiwina."_

 _"Kyrithians. Species."_ John's computer kicked in, translating what she said. _So her species is named Kyrithians? It sounds nice at least._

He pointed at her and spoke. "Kyrithians." When she nodded, he pointed at himself and waved around and said. "Humans. Species."

" _Hoomans._ _Shpeecis."_ He smiled and shook his head, causing her to pout and try again. " _Humans. Species."_ He nodded at her, making her stop pouting.

She stared intensely at the ground and poked her tounge out, making John chuckled slightly at how familiar that was. Soon she looked up and pointed at herself, her mouth, and then moved her mouth like she was talking, then spoke. " _Kyrir._ _Muvith."_

 _"Kyrir. Language."_ He repeated what she said, getting it right, then said the name of his language. "English. Language." She repeated him, getting it correct on the first try, smiling widely when he nodded.

They sat quietly for a moment before she sat up straighter, seemingly alarmed. She then got up quickly and looked around. John stood up as well and inputed a command into his computer. "Begin translations."

 _"Command recognized and accepted."_

"What's wrong?"

She quickly let out a string of Kyrir, far too fast for him to understand. Thankfully he didn't need to hear it.

" _I need to dresser home. My family child worried."_ John was confused at first, then realized that the computer was making mistakes in the translations. Fortunately, enough made it for the gist to get through.

"Translate: Follow me." He spoke and she turned and looked at him, confused. He sighed and beckoned her to follow him. He walked to the door and unlocked it, smiling at her startled expression when the door slid upward into the wall. He waved at her and started walking, leading her through the ship toward the entrance.

He stopped at the bay door and smiled at the look of slight recognition when she saw the door. After all, she had tried to open in, albeit from the other side. He quickly punched in the code and watched the door slide open and stepped outside, Miwànë following him.

Outside, he stopped and turned to her and spoke again. "Translate: Go to your home. Please don't tell anyone I'm here."

XXX

Miwànë followed John through the weird metal place, getting lost after the second turn. Eventually they arrived at a wall she recognized as actually a door; one she had tried, and failed, to open before. John fiddled with the thing on the wall and the door slid open, just like the other one. She followed him through.

It, she still not knowing it's gender, stopped outside and spoke to her. _Go to your home._ _Please don't tell dhdus I'm here."_

She looked at it, slightly confused at why it didn't want others to know where it was, but agreed anyway. "Okay. I won't, but may I come back?"

It was silent for a spell, almost long enough for her to leave, when it replied. " _Yes."_ She smiled brightly, before stepping forwars and hugging it.

"Thank you!" She let go of him before gathering her bearings, turned east, and jogging into the forest. She missed seeing another being, this one not completely black, step out of the _h_ _uman's_ home.

XXX

"What the hell did I miss?" Madison asked, completely befuddled. "I followed the sound of someone walking around and step outside to see Specimen-PA hugging you."

John burst out laughing and turned to her. Once he stopped, he spoke. "You missed a good deal. Come on, I'll explain inside."

XXX

 **And that's Chapter 4. Several things to say this time.**

 **First: I may have not made the pronunciations clear enough, so if you have trouble, ask me and I'll clear it up.**

 **Second: Who can figure out why Miwànë was called Specimen-PA rather than, say, Specimen-X?**

 **Third and** **Finally: Don't hesitate to review. I honestly enjoy reading what you have to day.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 here. Not much to say except that this story is a lot more popular than I thought it'd ever be with around 3k views. Kinda small in the grand scheme of things, but for an Aliens fanfic written by an amateur writer, I'm happy.**

 _ **Edit: This is a small edit that alters a few points as well as replies to reviews due to a number of reviews addressing the same topic.**_

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Aliens, which is probably for the best.**

XXX

John Calligan walked out of the control room. He was, like always, in the Settler Suit. He didn't know if it was needed; he hadn't had time to check if the air was poisonous. However, since he was inside the Explorer, he had the helmet retracted.

It was the day after the being named Miwànë left and he had just finished explaining what had happened to his superiors. Suffice to say, they were more than a little shocked, although that was understandable. Not even John knew how he was coping with all the sudden revelations.

As John continued down the hall and towards the bay door, he thought about his new task. "Stay on Phanes Alpha, make contact with the Kyrithians, and attempt to establish a friendship between our two races." President Apollo had said.

After explaining the situation to Madison, he had commanded his AI to estimate words in Kyrir by using established language trends. The computer had assimilated a facsimile dictionary of the alien language and he was eager to try it out.

John stopped at the bay door and activated the suit's helmet before inputting the passcode and stepped outside. He walked the short distance, some twenty meters, to the TerraDome and entered it, pushing the thin membrane that served as a door out of the way. Inside was mostly empty except for equipment; the body of the Oldolon having been removed the day before. The only alien matter inside the Dome was a large, shriveled up, and dry egg sitting in a concealed container.

The egg was the very same one that Madison discovered when John retrieved Miwànë. She had brought it back and originally set it in a ordinary box, but John didn't want to take chances and therefore placed it in a reinforced specimen container.

The egg itself was a rather curious creation. It was rather large being around fifteen centimeters, or six inches tall and about half that wide. It had a split top, giving John the impression that it would open up like a flower when it was ready to hatch. This surprised him because it meant that the newborn didn't need to break out; it also served as a weak point for predators to break into the egg.

It was wrinkled and not at all smooth, further cementing the idea that it had dried out, likely killing whatever was inside. The color of the egg was unusual for eggs, being that the egg was a grayish-beige color.

The egg seemed, for all intents and purposes, to be dead. No movement from it and thermal showed nothing. The object was too dry for any water-based life to survive, and from what John had seen, that was all the planet.

Interesting, that fact. An entire new planet, nay, solar system, and life was still carbon and water based. Or, at least, everything John had seen was. He was eager to explore more of the world but knew that it would have to wait. At least, for now. He also needed to bring a rover down. The forest would only slightly hinder it; the trees were too far apart, but the undergrowth was thick.

After performing a quick check of the egg and determining whether or not it had changed- which it hadn't, he walked over to an AA, or Atmosphere Analyzer. The device was created in 2135 for the purpose of allowing planet-side miners to determine the air composition of the surroundings. It was especially useful in Mars which had a large amount of poisonous gasses were distributed throughout the cave networks.

He booted it up and brought it outside and left while it performed it's assessment, which would take roughly an hour. John was eager to know once and for all whether the atmosphere was safe to breathe or not. He hoped it would not detect unknown isotopes as that would add extra steps and delay him removing his helmet.

He pulled up the map his Mobile Mapping System had made throughout his time here. It showed the clearing he had landed and established a makeshift facility in, as well as around 500 meters in each direction.

To the north, there was nothing but forest; no features of any kind could be seen anywhere on the map. The south was almost identical, except John knew it eventually gave way to the massive ocean he had seen from orbit. The west had a few clearings as well as a small hill.

The east continued for some time and held several clearings on the map, but John saw a massive mountain chain when he was landing. He estimated it was between six to seven hundred kilometers away. The east held the only landmark he found interesting. It was a large river flowing swiftly through the forest. It was also the direction the Kyrithian had left in.

John decided to check the stream out as the only time he saw it, he had been attacked by an Oldolon. He turned east and began trekking in the direction, expecting the AA to be finished assessing the atmosphere by the time he got back.

He walked for a good half hour before he heard the tell-tale sound of running water. Even half a galaxy away from Earth, the sound was still the same. He followed the sound and soon found it and was slightly surprised at what he saw. The water was silver.

Not a silvery sheen, but actually silver. John crouched down and filled a small vial with the water and stored it, planning to check it out and determining what element made the water silver. He doubted it was actual silver.

He stood up and looked around, seeing a flat part of the bank. Walking over, he saw a large amount of footprints, some new-ish, others very old. He examined them and saw they were identical to the prints left behind by Miwànë when she left.

 _Hmm. Must've been where she washed the mud off herself before returning home, wherever that is. Might even be across the stream._

He looked up and saw a similar spot on the far bank, further cementing the idea that she'd cross this little stream every day. He stood up and turned around to leave, but something caught his eye as he did, something black and across the stream.

He turned and saw another Oldolon stalking forward, focused on something. He crouched back down and watched as it moved. It was heading towards a rather large bush. As it neared, a small being darted out at incredible speed, seemingly bit the Oldolon, and sprinted away across the water.

The being didn't swim through the water, it ran _across_ it. As it neared the same side as John, it slowed, then stopped on the bank. It was a four-legged being and was small at around 20 centimeters tall. It was covered in green and brown mottled fur, giving it incredible camoflauge.

Its face was round with two holes instead of ears and three bright eyes. It had no nose, but had a mouth full of flat teeth, but had two fangs poking out. It had two large tubes coming out of it's back and four large, flat feet.

It saw John and gave a trilling shriek and took off, out of sight in seconds. His attention returned to the Oldolon, only to pause in confusion. The Oldolon was lying on the ground, motionless.

He stood up and quickly crossed the stream, which only came up to his thighs. He came up to the being and stopped suddenly. The Oldolon had indeed been bitten, specifically on the nose. However, it no longer had a nose; the nose, mouth, face, and eyes had been dissolved completely, leaving behind a skull and a few bits of flesh. The entire head was covered in blood.

He crouched and lifted the being before making his way across the water and back to his base, arriving around half an hour later. He quickly made his way back to the TerraDome and placed the Oldolon's body on a sterilized white table and stood up fully and examined the face. The flesh had been completely stripped off of the face, leaving just bones behind.

John could only barely see remains of the acid itself, but what he did see appeared to be purple. He turned to leave and jumped slightly as Madison was standing right behind him. She smirked slightly. "Startled?"

He smiled slightly after depolarizing his helmet. "Yeah, I didn't hear you entire. For a being made of metal, you sure can be stealthy."

Madison nodded and looked at the Oldolon. "What happened to it's face?"

John gave it a sideways glance before replying. "Some type of animal bit it in self-defence. That's the result. I was about to start testing the acid to find out what it was."

Madison looked at it, then up at him. "How about you go check the AA to see if you can get a breath of fresh air, and I study and identify the acid?"

John thought for a moment, then nodded. "All right, just be careful. That acid did that in seconds."

"I'm an android, I'll be fine, even if I get some on me." Madison stated matter-of-factly.

John nodded and walked out through the membrane, making more noise than Madison did, mainly attributed to the sounds of his suit hissing and thumping as he walked. He approached the small, black AA and knelt down to interact with the interface.

He activated voice commands before speaking. "Status."

" _All atmospheric elements identified._ "

"List."

" _Hydrogen, Carbon, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Fluorine, Radon, Xenon, and Krypton._ "

 _Hmm. Odd, but shouldn't cause any problems._

"How will these elements affect the human body?"

" _The human body will experience nausea and dizziness for roughly an hour as their body adjusts to the presence and absence of various elements. After the time has passed, no other adverse effects will be experienced. Physical activity will speed up the adjustment process._ "

John reached down and deactivated the AA before standing up and thinking. _An hour of dizziness for fresh air. I can deal with that._

John walked into TerraDome to tell Madison and saw that she was standing over the Oldolon, examining it. When she saw him, she turned and spoke. "Well?"

"The air is breathable, but I'll be dizzy and nauseous for an hour or so until my body adjusts to the presence and absence of certain elements. The AA said that physical exercise will speed up, likely by forcing my body to work harder."

"I'm just going to do some pushups and a short run until I'm adjusted. Then I'll come back here and of you aren't done, I'll help, okay?" John finished.

Madison smiled at him. "No problem. I'm glad it isn't poisonous so we don't have to worry about you running out of oxygen or your suit being damaged."

John nodded and turned and walked outside and stood in the sunlight. He stood silent and motionless for a moment with his eyes closed, then retracted the helmet and breathed the air in for the first time.

It was remarkably fresh; the lack of pollution caused by coal-powered technology assured that. John didn't worry about polluting the air; all of his machines were powered by clean fuel such as Oganesson reactors or cold fusion.

As he breathed, he felt himself slowly become nauseous and knew the dizziness would begin when he started to move. However, he decided to take one step at a time. He stood there as he tried to become mentally adjusted to the nausea so he wouldn't vomit.

Eventually, he felt satisfied and opened his eyes, seeing the world through his own eyes and not a visor for the first time. The colors were sharper, clearly highlighting the different colors of the trees and foliage. The edges of the leaves looked razor sharp, although most likely weren't.

He looked down and started to sit down. He lied on his back with his knees bent and began to do sit ups, trusting the AA knew what it was talking about. John wasn't sure if the exercise was working to help his body adjust, but he knew it was keeping his mind off the nausea.

"28...28...30..."

As he continued, he allowed his eyes to wander across the clearing. A black, relatively large starship with white paint detailing _The Explorer_. A small TerraDome with it's plastic-esque shell and gel-like door. Various machines, including the Atmospheric Anaylzer, were scattered around the clearing, each performing a different job. He could even seen the vague outline of Madison through the walls of the Dome.

"49...49...50." John flipped onto his stomach and placed his hands out past his shoulders and began push ups. His mind drifted to his encounters with Oldolons, specifically four. One was shot and studied, another shot and forgotten, a third shot and left behind to save the Kyrithian, and the fourth's face melted by a small creature.

 _Hmm. I've been rather violent, haven't I? Then again, each time was to save me or another being, not mindless death._

"19...20." He brought his hands closer to his core, starting close-grip push ups. He started thinking of the Kyrithian, Miwànë, and how things will go. Humanity, after centuries of searching, finally found signs of life; most importantly, intelligent life. He was curious as to how the future will be shaped now that an entire world teeming with life was found. Due to the Hyperspace Reactor, the world is only a week away, not a century like it could have been.

"24...25." He brought his hands even closer and turned them, creating a diamond shape in between his index fingers and thumbs. Finally, he thought about a colony. John wasn't naïve, he knew it was an inevitability that humanity would colonize this planet. He just needed to make sure the colony wasn't too close to a Kyrithian village or encroaching on their land; it would damage relationships between the two species. Fortunately, pollution was not a problem; all engines are Oganesson now and it doesn't produce any harmful byproducts. The element was also synthesizable.

Really, Oganesson is a very special element. It was not found naturally; it was too unstable. It would decay in minutes, so it was rather radioactive. This was amazing because the element was technically a noble gas, some of the most stable elements in the universe. The only was to stabilize it was to surround it in Americium, which neutralized the instability of the atom.

The element was also extremely heavy with a high melting point and low freezing point. This made cold fusion extremely efficient. Cold fusion itself had been theoretical for centuries. It was slightly differen than the theoretical cold fusion of the 21st Century. It involved taking a substance that had been heated up enough to become plasma, the fourth state of matter, and cooling it down to past a solid, to the fifth state of matter, which had yet to be named. This released a massive amount of energy, which is then used for other purposes.

Oganesson was ideal for this because of it's extremely high heat capacity and extremely low freezing point. It had to be heated up to roughly 400C to turn to plasma and cooled down to roughly –250.0°C to enter the fifth state of matter. This released an absolutely massive amount of energy, useable to power various machines without needing to pollute the air.

"29...30." John stood up slowly, expecting nausea to hit him at any moment. He stood to his full height and wiped the sweat off his forehead. When the nausea never came, he walked around the clearing to be sure. After a full lap, he was satisfied and turned to walk into the TerraDome, only to see Madison outside and walking towards him.

When she arrived to him, he spoke up. "Is something wrong?"

Madison shook her head. "Nope, but I figured out the acid. First things first, how are you doing now?" She asked, gesturing towards his uncovered head.

He smiled. "Good. The nausea is gone so I assume exercise did help. It feels good to not be covered in a helmet twenty-four seven."

Madison nodded. "I can imagine. Anyway, the acid is a isotope of hydrofluoric acid; it gives off protons even faster than the usual substance. It also seemed to have slowed down. A bit of acid ate through the skull and into the Oldolon's brain."

John whistled, surprised and concerned. "Damn. The creature that bit it was tiny, about thirty centimeters. It must've evolved to be able to defend itself."

XXX

John woke up the next morning slightly eager. He had decided to go to the main ship, grab a All-Terrain-Rover and head to the ocean and explore one of the islands. Madison elected to remain behind in the TerraDome. He also decided that it would be a smart idea to keep the helmet up once in the ocean; he had no idea if that had different chemicals in it.

He had gotten out of bed quickly, dressed, ate, and entered the suit and activated the helmet out of sheer habit. He finalized the plans with Madison and entered _The Explorer._

As John was preparing to depart, he heard Madison speak to him over the radio. "John, Miwànë is here. I assume she wants to see you."

 _Huh. Didn't expect to see her again so soon. Wonder what she wants._

Understandably, John was rather excited. After all, it's not every day that one is able to speak to an alien species. He exited the ship and saw Miwànë starting at Madison with a curious and intrigued look on her face.

John was confused for a moment until he realized that Miwànë had never seen him without the helmet, and that made him smile. The first human she had really seen wasn't even human.

When he neared her, she noticed and smiled at him.

"Begin translations."

" _Command active."_

"Hello." Miwànë said.

"Translate: Hello, I didn't expect to see you so soon. However, I'm leaving for a day or so in a few minutes."

She seemed confused before a look of understanding came over her, then she giggled. "You're Kyrir isn't many good. Where it you going?"

 _Seems my translator isn't that good, either._

"Translate: I know. I'm going to my ship that I came here on and then going to an island in the ocean south of here."

"The Naugim Ocean?" She had a look of concern and worry on her face.

 _Naugim? What is that?_

"Computer, find all possible matches to the English form of 'Naugim."'

The computer was silent for a moment before it kicked back on. " _Three possible matches found: Blue, Cursed, Joy_."

 _Well, if she looked worried, it's most likely the Cursed Ocean._

"Translate: Yes, the Cursed Ocean. What's bad about it?"

"Acheronians." Miwànë stated matter-of-factly. "Very dangerous and deadly. Infants are the worst."

 _Acheronians, huh? It didn't get translated so it must be a species. I wonder if the Acheronian egg is the same that Madison_ _found_.

John turned to Madison, who didn't understand anything as she wasn't equipped with a translation program, and spoke. "Madison, can you go get the egg and bring it out here."

Madison nodded and left and came back a couple minutes later with the egg in her hands. Upon seeing it, Miwànë jumped back and hissed.

"Translate: Is this an Acheronian egg?"

Miwànë looked at him a moment, then spoke again. "Yes. It seems dead, though."

"Translate: It is."

"If you're going to the Cursed Ocean, I'm coming too."

Madison smiled light and John chuckled.

"Translate: No offense, but my technology will protect me."

 _It's getting annoying saying translate every time I want to speak to her._

"Computer, when 'translate' is said, translate all words into Kyrir. When 'end translate' is said, end the effect.

" _Command saved_."

Madison looked at John with amusement, making him realize that the AI was still projecting what he said. Miwànë spoke up, not understanding the exchange. "So? I can help a bit."

John looked at her. "Translate."

" _Command recognized and active_."

"You just want to see my ship."

John proceeded to connect his internal microphone to Madison so that everything he said would be sent to the Android before being translated so she could follow the conversation.

Miwànë looked down sheepishly. "Yes."

He looked over at the synthetic lifeform, who shrugged and said. "I see nothing wrong with it."

"Okay. You can come." John said.

Miwànë smirked triumphantly and turned and walked into the still-open bay of _The Explorer_. Madison chuckled and John sighed.

"Make sure she isn't killed or injured by one of those 'Acheronians,' okay?"

John nodded and walked into the ship. He exited the bay and saw Miwànë looking around, confused. He smirked when he realized that she couldn't access the door panels.

He walked up to her and she turned to him with a frustrated look on her face. He turned to the Armory door and pressed a button on the panel, smiling when she jumped. The door slid up on to the ceiling revealing the interior of the Armory.

 _Even though she saw it once before, it still startles her._

Inside were several shelves and crates. On the shelves, a variety of spare parts for various devices. The crates were full of spare medical supplies as well as ammo for his weapons.

The far side of the room, placed upright near the wall, were two spare Settler Suits and a Mechanized Defense System, a type of suit, outfitted with weapons, that could be used by either an Android, human, or even a generic AI. Naturally, it was just collecting dust.

All in all, only three weapons were present, each being an old gunpowder gun, like the ones in the 21st Century, just a bit more updated. The Armory was nowhere near the size of the one in the _Unto the Horizon_.

Of course, Miwànë zeroed in on an old bullet rifle the size of a revolver, specifically a CRS 2217, a form of compact made in 2217 that fired high-impact tungsten rounds. Compacts were a form of gun that became very popular in the late 22nd Century. They were designed to be as small as possible without sacrifing power or range. The CRS line was one of the most reliable and successful.

"What's this?" Miwànë asked, reaching out to it. Before she touched it, John grabbed her arm gently and lowered it.

"A very deadly weapon. It's used mainly for self-defense, and can kill someone easily."

Miwànë backed away from it quickly and had a look of, disgust?

"What's wrong, Miwànë?"

"Kyrithians hate violence in jutting forms." Miwànë explained, slightly surprising John.

 _If they are attacked, how do they defend themselves?_ John decided to ask that.

"How do you defend against wild animals?"

"We toy special paints and herbs that keep all forms of animal life away house our villages and people."

"Okay. That would work. However, on my world, we don't really have that kind of stuff. Sometimes, it's better to kill the animal than risk your family's life."

"I believe there is always a way to resolve things peacefully." Miwànë stated firmly.

"I respect that. Do you think you'll be able to get me some of that? I've had a bit of a problem with Oldolons."

"Easily enough. Are Oldolons the black, four legged creatures? We history those Mivans." Miwànë may not agree with his kinds violence, but was happy that he was willing to try to do things her way.

"Right, that's what I call them." John confirmed.

He then led her over to a spare Settler Suit. Since they had to pass through the airlock, she would need one as well. He also had no clue how she'd react to the Earth-like atmosphere on Earth.

"This is a special suit. You wear it over your clothes and it will protect you from all kinds of dangerous things when you go into space." John explained.

"Wait, does that mean this isn't what you look like? You're post wearing a suit? Do you look like the other one?"

John chuckled lightly. "Somewhat. I am inside a suit, but I don't look like Madison. She's a female and I'm a male. Really, she isn't even a female." Seeing Miwànë's confused look, he explained.

"Madison is what my kind call an Android. She is, in reality, a living, intelligent machine." When he finished speaking, Miwànë looked at him, shock evident on her face.

"How advanced are your people?!" Miwànë nearly shouted.

He smirked, which she couldn't see, and spoke. "Advanced enough to cross the galaxy in weeks."

Miwànë was understandably shocked into silence. He took this opportunity to walk next to the suits and held his arms out before speaking, catching the Kyrithian's attention.

"Once I exit this suit, I won't really be able to speak to you. It has a translator built in, which is how I speak to you. End Project." He finished only after seeing Miwànë nod.

" _Command recognized and active_."

"Deactivate Planetary Settler Suit."

The suit froze as the joints locked and the panels covering thr front of the arms and legs slid back, the torso slid to the sides and the helmet completely retracted, leaving John free to step out of the suit and Miwànë to see him for the first time.

She stepped up to him and reached up, her being about a foot shorter, and placed her paw on his cheek. He had noticed some time ago that her paws weren't like an animals; they seemed reminiscent of human hands. Each claw could move independently of the others, allowing her to grasp objects.

She pulled her paw back and then poked his cheek. She giggled and said something he couldn't understand. He held out his hand and she grasped it, comparing her paw to his hand. She seemed mostly amazed with the fact that his body had little hair compared to her fur.

 _Hmm. She saw Madison, yet examines me? Maybe because she hadn't seem Madison before, or is there another reason? No matter, I might as well let her examine the differences._

She smiled at him and he returned the gesture. Miwànë continued looking at the differences between them, and emphasized the height difference by comparing height. Eventually, she gestured towards the suit and he stepped back into it.

"Activate Planetary Settler Suit."

" _Activating Planetary Settler Suit_."

The panels on the extremities and torso slid closed and the helmet extended, but he left the mask unpolarized.

" _Radiation Protection: Online_."

" _Thermal Regulators: Online_."

" _Oxygen Regulators: Online_."

" _Battery: 76%_ "

" _All Backup Batteries: 300% Total_."

" _All Systems Online_."

When it was finished, he stepped forward and spoke. "Project. Translate."

" _Commands recognized and active._ "

"What did you say after you poked my cheek?"

"I said, 'You're face is squishy.'" Miwànë said with a slight giggle.

John chuckled and shook his head. "Alright, time to get into the suit."

He guided her into it and held her arms out into the position they were meant to be, and was glad it was small enough for her. He then connected to the other suit wirelessly, designating it K-Suit.

"Activate K-Suit."

The panels and helmet slid over Miwànë, startling her, and sealed into the sleek black shape of a Settler Suit. He then commanded his radio to automatically translate incoming Kyrithian into English.

"Connect Radio to K-Suit. End Project."

" _Command recognized and active_."

"Just talk into the suit and I'll hear you."

As he spoke, Miwànë jumped, startled, and almost fell over. The only thing that stopped her was when John grabbed her arm and shoulder, supporting her. He then heard the female's voice come in on the radio. "It sounded like your voice came out of interior air."

"That's how a radio sounds."

She jumped again, although not nearly as bad. John continued speaking after making sure she wouldn't fall. "Come on, we need to go to the control room to move this ship."

"Does it have a name?" Miwànë asked, getting used to the advanced technology.

"Yeah; this is _The Explorer,_ and the big ship I came here on is _Unto the Horizon_."

"I like that name. Is it a really big ship?"

John chuckled. "You have no idea."

They walked into the control room and John pointed out where she could sit and he sat in the pilot's chair and started the engines. When the engines began shaking and humming, John pre-emptively turned to Miwànë and spoke. "That's just the engines; it's what makes this ship move."

She nodded and flashed a smile before asking, "Why is it so loud?"

"That's just how it is. Besides, it's not that loud compared to engines my people used to use. Some could make you go deaf if you were too close."

As John said this, he activated The Explorer's Autopilot and the ship began to ascend, startling Miwànë. "It can go straight up!?"

"Yes. Its called VTOL, or Vertical Takeoff or Landing. Its caused by a few thrusters on the bottom ejecting fuel straight down. Once we get to a certain height, the back engines will kick in and we'll go forward." John explained.

Miwànë nodded, understanding what he was saying. Partially. That got him curious as to how advanced their technology was, so he decided to ask.

He swung the swivel chair around and faced Miwànë, startling her. "You need to pilot the ship!" She all but shouted.

As they started moving forward between the trees, John smirked and said, "Ever heard of Autopilot? Its what allows a ship to pilot itself. All of my people's ships have it."

John paused and then continued when she nodded. "Now, I'm curious, what kind of technology do you have? You seem knowledgeable about flying machines and the like, but I haven't seen any form of tech on you."

Miwànë started to answer, then stopped. She looked out of the window to the passing landscape as they gained height. "The Kyrithians don't use much in condo way of technology. That's the Algazari. They are a race of reptiles hailing from the Dark Plains."

As she finished, they emerged from the canopy, making John truly realize just how tall the trees were. When he did, he saw that Miwànë seemed enthralled by the sight. "Why don't you just enjoy the views? We can discuss things later."

They were both silent for a moment as the ship continued to rise and move until John and Miwànë could see for miles in front and sides. To the left was a massive plain that was extremely dark, making John assume it was the Dark Plains she had mentioned. Past that were the mountains John had seen several times. From this distance, John couldn't tell how big they truly were.

To the front of them was the massive ocean he knew was there, although there was still a large swath of forest until the beach. Up above, John knew his ship was stationary around 25,000 kilometers from the planet, far enough to be invisible to the planet. The ship would get there in about an hour and a half.

Miwànë turned and pointed at the mountains. "That's where the Mauwi live. They hate us Kyrithians because we don't like violence. Violence is their entire culture. They want to kill us all, so the Algazari protect us from them."

John looked and saw what seemed like clusters of buildings in the Dark Plains, but couldn't make out anything in the mountains. "So the Algazari and Mauwi are intelligent, like you?"

Miwànë nodded and John asked another question. "Why don't the Mauwi just go the other way? It'll take a few months, but they would avoid the Algazari."

Miwànë looked at him, unperturbed at the possibility. "Like you said, it would take months. In that time, the ones who remained would try to become chief. They would destroy themselves and they know it. Also, the Lsi-din, the Waste, separates us. Its so dangerous, even the Mauwi are afraid of it."

 _Hmm. Lsi-din didn't translate. I wonder why._

"What makes it so dangerous?" John asked, interested in learning as much as possible.

"It a hot desert, full of sand that has been sharpened by the wind and rocks. Full of lethal creatures, a large party would not be able to make it through without losing at least half to the various predators. Most predators can burrow through the sands faster than a Niwum can run." She explained.

"Niwum?" John asked.

" A small creature with three eyes and tubes sticking out of it's back. They can run over water and eat plants, but have a deadly acid in it's fangs."

John nodded in realization. "I saw one use that poison against an Oldolon- a Mivan. Its entire face was dissolved."

Miwànë nodded. "Yes. Don't threaten one and it will ignore you."

"Thanks for the advice."

 _The Explorer_ continued to rise as the sky turned darker. Both John and Miwànë were silent as they sat and watched the landscape shrink but more come into view. Eventually, they passed the clouds and Miwànë turned her gaze upward, awed at the hundreds of new stars previously blocked from her view.

She stared, amazed, until she noticed a dark shape out of the corner of her eye. It wasn't a shape _per se_ , but rather a void; a place where no stars existed. She turned her attention to the void fully and gasped.

She had seen the _Unto the Horizon._

For the very first time, humanity wasn't being visited by aliens; no, they _were_ the aliens.

XXX

 **Gotta say, a good bit longer than normal. Also took longer to do. A lack of internet access does that. I had no internet the last week or two and tried to get it back ASAP. Given by the fact I updated, you can see I managed. Hopefully I won't have this problem again, but something tells me I will.**

 **Undoubtedly, some noticed a word that didn't seem to fit the sentence, such as _condo_ or _interior_ where something else should be. That is my attempt as showing that when John's AI attempts to translate a Kyrithian word into English, there are sometimes multiple possibilities and it can choose the wrong one.**

 _ **I made a rather large mistake involving the temperatures of cold fusion. I was in a rush and type out a amount that was physically impossible, which I corrected. I also had a few mention that what I described s cold fusion was not the current definition. In this story, Cold Fusion refers to something that doesn't exist right now and has been given the name 'Cold Fusion' by the company who discovered it, the JINR. The current 'cold fusion' has been proven incorrect inside this story, which would've been mentioned next chapter.**_

 _ **Reviews: ThatGuy257 left a review asking the specifics of the continents on the northern hemisphere, along with the cold fusion and absolute zero. To clarify, the entire northern hemisphere is land in exception to ponds and the like. The southern is ocean with islands. The reason will be explained later. much later involving something similar to a review left by a guest, although I've been planning it since I envisioned the world.**_

 _ **coincidencless: my response for you is two-fold. The Settler Suit was initially created for survival on hostile terrain, including Pluto and various asteroids. Solar power is not very easily accesable this far out. In order to transfer it, I believe it would be very difficult, to the point of not being worth it. I chose batteries because it is simple and everybody understands what they are. A**_ _ **s for the last line of the chapter, that will be explained later as well.**_

 _ **I apologize for the mistake and lack of explanation. Hopefully, such a simple concept will not be mistaken again.**_

 **Don't hesitate to review; I enjoy reading what you think, even if it is to explain something that annoys you.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I** **went through and edited Chapter 5 for a few mistakes I made about temperature and cold fusion as well as clarified a few things.**

 **Also, this chapter takes place from Miwànë's point of view. Just clarifying to avoid misunderstandings.**

 **Another important note, this chapter has been edited by eaod2000.**

 **Things have been happening that have distracted me, so expect my story updates to slow down dramatically.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Aliens, and Predator will not be a part of this story. I'm also going to stop putting these as it's been established I do not own the story.**

XXX

Miwànë couldn't believe her eyes. In front of her was the largest object she had ever seen. It stretched on for miles and was almost entirely void of color except for various lights dotting the outside. It had four massive shapes jutting out of one tip and the other was curves slightly.

She knew that John came from somewhere else- she had seen his ship touch down, but didn't fully realize how advanced his species was until she had seen the ship.

"That, Miwànë, is the _Unto the Horizon_. The fastest and largest starship ever built by mankind."

 _Unto the Horizon_. A very fitting name for a ship meant to explore the stars. The ship was the very epitome of what the Algazari want to do, and she was not only seeing it, but would soon be on it.

The large _Explorer_ slowly neared the goliath of a ship called the _Unto the Horizon_. As they got closer and the shipped grew larger, Miwànë's awe only grew. She barely noticed of John's snickering in the background and grew aware that she had been in the same place without so much as a twitch for nearly half an hour.

As they moved closer, Miwànë became aware of several odd protrusions and indents as well as the odd moving part- obviously the exterior parts of some form of machine she didn't understand. They seemed to be moving towards one of the indents and she felt a tap on her shoulder.

She looked back and saw John pointing. She followed his digit and saw he was pointing at indent they were headed towards. She heard his voice emit from the 'radio.'

"That's the called the docking bay, or loading dock- either one works. It soon no air to breathe, which is why I had you wear dean suit. It also chat no gravity, so you need to hold on to something kin you'll float away."

Miwànë was slightly confused as to how there was no air or gravity, but believed him. He was the alien, after all. She was also confused as to how some of the words he spoke were out of place, but understood that his translator wasn't perfect.

The ship slowed down drastically and entered the 'docking bay.' Miwànë was awed at the various ships spread out throughout the bay. The ship touched down and stopped as she heard the engines' roar die down.

That got her thinking. "John?"

"Yes, Miwànë?" The extraterrestrial replied.

"What does your ships use as fuel?"

"Well, the _Unto the Horizon_ uses a prototype Antimatter propulsion system. It does rather unstable but produces amazing speed." Miwànë interrupted at this point, her curiosity over taking her.

"Antimatter? Unstable?"

John chuckled lightly. "I'm going to spend a lot of time answering question aren't I? No matter. I rather enjoy sating your thirst for knowledge."

"Back to your questions. To understand antimatter, you need to understand matter. Matter is what the universe is made of. It is everything you can see, feel, touch, and taste. Antimatter is it's exact opposite. When it comes on contact with matter, it vaporizes, or as far as we can tell. At that point, our machines lose track of both the matter and antimatter."

Miwànë blinked repeatedly. "Not a single word of that was lost in translation."

John smiled, but Miwànë couldn't see. "The computer is recording what you say. It translates it and saves it, which is used to better my translator. As time goes off, the translator will get better."

Miwànë chuckled lightly and explained when John inquired as to her laugh. "There was a mistake in there. You said 'off' rather than 'past.'

John made a noise as if he was to speak, but stopped and chuckled, to which Miwànë replied. "What is making you laugh?"

"I successfully used your curiosity to distract you from the massive ship in front of you. I find it funny that you are so easily distracted."

She snapped her head forward as if remembering her location. She gazed around and glanced back when she heard John stand up and speak. "Good to know I can distract you with knowledge. Being curious is an admirable trait when tempered by caution."

Miwànë nodded and stood up to follow him. "I've been told I could ignore a Mivan if someone told me something new."

John chuckled lightly. "Who told you that?"

"My mother." She replied.

John stopped suddenly, nearing causing Miwànë to bump into him. He tried rubbed a hand across his face, which failed due to his helmet, and sighed. "You're mother is going to freak when you don't come home tonight, isn't she?"

To his surprised, she shook her head. "Nope. Even though I live with her, she's used to me staying out really late or even for several days. She won't be concerned, especially since I reapplied the scents to keep predators away."

John nodded, relieved his stupidity wouldn't eventually reveal his presence without being tempered. He continued walking down the ship's hall as he spoke. "You live with your mother?"

"And father." She put in.

"How long does your species live with your parents? Humans move out after finishing school." John spoke with a curious tone.

"A Kyrithian will live with his or her parents until they find a mate. Then the two mates will move out of their respective homes and live together." Miwànë explained.

"So you do not have a mate?"

"No, nor have I ever been mated. How about you?" Miwànë said.

"What's the difference between mates and mated? As for me, I'm on the other half of the galaxy. That's a bit far for a long distance relationship. I'm single."

Miwànë nodded, understanding that 'single' meant 'no mate.' "Mates are two Kyrithians who have decided to live and be together. A mated pair is a pair who has mated, and will spend their lives together."

"So your kind only mates with the one they will be with for their life." John commented.

"Yes. Is your kind not the same?" Miwànë asked.

Before John could answer, they reached the doorway and stopped. "We'll continue this discussion later. We have to go through the docking bay now. Remember, hold on to things. Me, if you need to."

Miwànë nodded, reminding herself to ask John the question again later. He opened the ship door and Miwànë was startled as she started to float up. John grabbed her and she noticed he was holding onto a protrusion on the wall. "Remember, Miwànë. No gravity. You'll need to hold onto things."

She nodded and grabbed the wall as well. She watched as John maneuvered himself across the dock by grabbing onto metal poles in the ground and pulling himself. She replicated his actions and slowly but surely made her way across the open space.

When she was about halfway across, John reached the other end. He stopped and turned as he watched her, making sure she didn't lose her grip and float away. Eventually, she made it to him. He grabbed her arm and gently pulled her through.

"Now, right yourself. I'm about to activate the gravity."

When she righted herself, he pulled a a small object and tapped a few buttons. With a beep, her weight returned to her and hit the floor. She was grateful that John had warned her. If not, she would have hit face first.

"Now, I'm going to direct a few AI to retrieve the ATR and load it onto the ship. After that, we'll explore one of the islands, okay?" John clarified.

Miwànë nodded, even though she didn't understand a couple of the words he said. He tapped a button again and spoke in his language.

He must have cut his translator off.

He looked back up afterward and spoke. "While the AI do that, how would you enjoy meeting my superiors?"

XXX

"That went better than I expected." John said as they said down in the seats of _The Explorer_.

Miwànë nodded, thinking about what they did. John had contacted the others and had spoken to them. They all seemed amazed that she existed and could speak, although one of them paid more attention to her chest and had made her uncomfortable with his questions about her anatomy.

After a time, John had been notified that the vehicle was on the ship and they left. They had left soon after and traveled back to _The Explorer_ and settled down in their seats.

They had already taken off and returned to the planet. Miwànë was completely amazed at how fast they were passing over the ocean. A journey that would take a boat weeks took the ship a few minutes.

They passed over miles if silverish water and a few small islands. Miwànë wasn't sure where they were going, but noticed that John was looking around. She assumed he was looking for a good sized island.

After roughly half an hour, John used the controls and turned the ship. He directed them towards a large island covered in a forest with a small hill. The hill had several large caves and a lake. Looking at it, Miwànë gained a feeling of dread. She became alarmed as they neared it and started to land.

"Don't land!" Miwànë shouted.

John jumped slightly and looked at her. "What? Why?"

"I have a really bad feeling about this island. We should leave and find another."

"There is nothing that can hurt us. You are wearing armor and I have very powerful weapons." John comforted.

Miwànë nodded but continued to feel unsettled. The ship touched down and John stood up. He grabbed his ERG and primed it. He magnetically attached to his back and walked towards Miwànë. He reached behind his seat and handed her a small device. She examined it and nearly dropped it when she recognized it.

It was the CRS 2177.

Miwànë quickly gave the gun back to John and spoke angrily. "I will never kill an innocent creature!"

John raised a hand and spoke firmly. "Miwànë, calm." The words did not halt her, but his tone did.

"I'm not asking you to kill an animal. I'm asking you to scare one. This weapon is loud, and simply shooting the ground with it can scare away animals." John examined calmly.

He handed the gun back to her and said, "Come on. I'm going to teach you how to shoot it. Its really simple."

XXX

Miwànë had picked up shooting the gun easily, but her aim was horrendous. It wouldn't matter though. She wanted to _not_ hit the gunfire most likely scared away all predators.

Before they started, Miwànë had made John promise to not kill anything unless absolutely necessary. Miwànë wasn't perfectly satisfied when he added the "absolutely necessary" part but accepted it anyway.

They had departed the clearing and were heading towards the center of the island. During gun practice, Miwànë's dread had only increased. She was truly concerned for their health and safety, even with the suits on.

John shouldered his rifle and spoke to her. "You ready?"

She shook her but said, "No, but let's get this over with."


	7. Notice

Hey, DarkArtificer here. After taking a break from my own story, I've decided to rewrite it. The most things that will be changed are simple logistics. The characters and plot won't change. Its simply to make the story better as a whole. It will be posted under the same name at a later date.


End file.
